War of Worlds prologue
by b-chan
Summary: A kind of sequal to Crono and Saiyan women. Takes place after Saiyan women and is the beginning of the future mentioned in Crono.
1. prologue

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The War of Worlds

prologue

There was no sound, there was no light, there was nothing but darkness all around him. He turned around trying to find something, anything in the chaotic black. Nothing, there was nothing. He began to walk, not knowing if he was actually making ground, but not have anything else to do. Slowly senses began to return to him and the first one to greet him was his sense of smell. Death, he could smell death. He stopped in his tracks, as a cold breeze ran along his skin like someone's icy fingers. He spun on his heels, but there was nothing; he could see nothing.

"Who's there!" he challenged. The sound of footsteps echoed around the void of black nothingness. "Show yourself you coward!" he roared. A deep male voice laughed low in its throat. His blood turned cold, that voice! He knew that voice! 

Where once there was nothing but darkness now there was light. He took a step back and shielded his eyes from the intense shower of golden light that stretched his shadow into a tall giant. A sudden feeling of fear gripped him. He dared to look through his hands at the golden being before him, and his heart squeezed tight at the sight before him. Death, he was looking a golden angel of death in the face. A golden angel that wore his face and smiled back with emotionless eyes of aqua blue.

"Are you afraid?" asked the being with his voice.

He could not answer; he took another step back from the angel of death.

The golden angel's smile was beautiful, but it's eyes remained blank, dead. "You should be," said the angel taking a step foreword. "I'll kill them all. All in my path until another rises. One worthy enough to face me, to kill me, to kill you."

The golden being stood before him with out stretched arms, as if to beckon him to his embrace. "Come, it is your true nature. Everything else is just darkness and an empty void compared to what I am to you. Come," repeated the golden angel taking another step forward. "Come embrace death and become it."

"NNNNOOOOOOO!"

Vegeta sat up in bed with a gasp for breath. He raised up his hand to see it was trembling, he was trembling. He slapped his hand on his sweat-covered forehead and ran it down to cup his mouth and chin, breathing deeply through his nose. The memories of the dream had left him once he'd waken, but the terrifying feeling it brought him lingered on his senses. 

He released his mouth and breathed in a shaky breath. Nothing had ever scared him, not like he was now. There was no way to defend, no way to fight back, no way to escape, only run; run until it consumed him and every thing else in its path. 

The fear faded and he snorted to himself. It had only been a stupid dream, his subconscious was just playing games with him; or was it trying to tell him something? 

Vegeta glanced down at the blue haired creature that slept by his side. She hadn't stirred, just continued to draw in even breaths, showing she was indeed still deep in slumber. He looked long at her, studying her every line, every curve. Looking at her as if for the first time, even though he knew her body almost better then his own. 

He reached down with his hand and ran it down her, not touching her, simply running his fingers over her sleeping form; feeling the heat that she generated through his skin. He ran his hand up to her face and felt her breath tickle him with rhythmic puffs of air. She was pretty and young again. A few years had already past since his wish to rejuvenate her, her features were more defined now, hair longer, body fuller. He allowed his eyes to soften only a second as he watched her sleep before he forced them away. 

As carefully as he could he slipped out from under the covers and off the king size bed he shared with his mate. Shadows cast about, created by the windows and piece of furniture placed around the room. 

He padded softly over to the large glass doors, which led to the small balcony branching off the side of their room. Dressed only in a pair of thin black boxers, he leaned against the doors' frame and peered out into the night. Stars shown bright against the black canopy of the sky, and the full moon, that he dare not look directly at, hung high painted everything silver that was not covered by shadows. 

He grabbed the doors' knobs and turned, opening them. A cold breeze blew into the room, but the saiyan prince wasn't affected by it. He stepped out onto the balcony and leaned against its railing, folding his forearms in front of him to rest on the white wood. His glazed fixed on nothing as he basked in the rays of the moon. He had the sudden desire to look up, but decided against it as a cold wind whipped over him, causing the thick hair on his tail to fluff out to conserve heat. 

He laughed softly to himself, once he won't have hesitated to look at a full moon. He would have looked just for the thrill of the psychical change, to feel the wild passion infest him and the high that it gave him to be in that form. But, now all he could think of was, what would he do after transforming, how his mate would be pissed at him for ruining their property with his clumsy feet, and what if he transformed back in front of someone without any clothes on? 

"Vegeta," called a gentle voice behind him. He glanced over his shoulder as the blue haired woman rose up from their bed, in an almost translucent gown of aqua blue. "What's wrong? You shouldn't be out when the moon is full," she said slipping from the mattress to walk toward him. 

Vegeta tore his eyes away from her beauty and looked down at the yard below.

She walked up to stand next to him, he could see her long blue hair waving in the wind out of the corner of his eyes.

"I feel old," he said suddenly. 

"No you're not," she said. He could sense her smiling down on him. "Come back to bed." When he made no more to do so she grabbed him by the wrists and turned him around so that the moon was to his back. "Come back to bed and I'll show you just how old you are."

He couldn't help but smirk and she smirked back in an imitation of him. He allowed her to pull him back into their room and close the doors behind them. They spent the rest of that night together in each other's arms.

***********

A ship sailed by in the cold dark sea of space.

"Captain Tenma," said a soldier saluting a tall man who stared out a large window at the vastness of space. He was dressed in a green military suit, with a patch on his shoulder marked with an L. His skin was midnight black, eyes solid red, with no pupils. His hair was a dark spiky brown and stuck out in a wild riot on his head. 

"What is it?" asked Tenma in a bored tone still staring out into space. 

"We are approaching the next planet, planet 225-963-007," said the soldier in an even clear voice.

"What are the stasis of that planet, do the natives have any power?" asked Tenma.

"Sir, the average power level on that planet is 5. Their technology is primitive and their defensives pathetic."

Tenma frowned. "What is the next planet we will be conquering after this one?"

"Sir, that would be planet 225-986-013, which is a weeks journey way from our current position."

The captain cursed and turned around. "What a waste of my time. I am far too powerful to be conquering these mud ball planets out in the middle of no where. I should be at Lord Lucifer's side, serving him as a really fighter. What good will these primitive planets and their primitive life forms be to my Lord?!" 

"Sir, is it not Lord Lucifer's goal to control the entire universe and all of its many life forms?" said the soldier.

Tenma raised up a hand, which began to glow.

"C-captain!" said the soldier backing away.

Tenma fired a ki blast at the soldier and vaporized him. The other soldiers in the room trembled and glanced nervously at the place their comrade had been.

A wicket grin crossed his face. "Maybe I should have some fun with this planet and its pathetic life forms first before I move on." He turned to his men. "I want to know who's that planet's strongest fighter, who they consider to be their champion. Tap into their communication till you find out who he is."

"Yes sir!" chorused all the soldiers.

Tenma grin and turned back to the window.

***********

"YYYAAAHHH!!!!" Shouted Bra turning the wheel of the blue and silver capsule speedboat she drove, behind her was Maron water-skiing on a single ski.

The pretty blond leaned to the side and jumped the wave doing a complete turn in the air. She landed with a splash and a giant roster tail of water spurted out from the bottom of her ski.

"Bra!" shouted Pan who was sitting in the front seat next to her. "When are Trunks and Goten going to get here!" she shouted over the roar of the engine. 

"Goten should be here before my brother!" shouted Bra. "They're flying here on the same plane, but my brother has a meeting in New York City to go to before he can join us."

Pan frowned. "There we are on vacation, in Florida of all places, and he's working!" growled Pan. "I haven't seen his face in over a year, I'm starting to forget what he looks like."

Bra laughed. "I though you didn't mind long distance love? You write him enough on the Internet and call him practical every day, if you forget what he looks like just listen for his voice."

"Ha, ha, very funny," said Pan crossing her arms.

"Pan you know my brother is busy running Capsule Corps. I keep telling you to make him marry you so he has to take you with him, but do you listen to me? Noooo!"

"Oh please don't you start, you have to be around someone for them to propose to you, and Trunks is never around. I think he's married his job."

"Tough isn't it," said Bra.

Pan nodded. "I just want every one to disappear, but me and Trunks. I'm tired of sharing him with the rest of the world." 

Bra laughed. "My poor brother bonded to a very possessive woman. You must be very.... frustrated not having him around on moon light nights."

"Bra!" shouted Pan. "Will you stay out of my love life!" shouted the quarter saiyan shaking a fist at her.

"Oh come on it's been several years since the Ultimate martial arts tournament were you beat him and made him your mate. When are you two going to tie the note?"

"When are you and Uub going to?!" growled Pan.

"I don't know, maybe soon," said Bra sighing dreamily and taking her hands off the wheel to clasp them over her heart.

"Hey! Never let go of the wheel, special if you have a skier behind you!" shouted Pan grabbing the wheel.

Bra looked over her shoulder. "What skier?"

"What do you mean what skier?! Maron! The one right be-" Pan looked over her shoulder to see the ski rope bouncing and skipping across the water with no skier holding on to it.

"Some spotter you are Pan," said Bra. "Put the flag up."

"Why?! She's not anywhere in sight. Where did she let go?"

"A better question would be when did she let go," said Bra turning the boat around and speeding back the way they came.

***********

Trunks walked down the flight of steps leading off the Capsule Corps jet he had arranged to travel on. He shields his eyes and wiped the sweat off his forehead as he peered around the Florida airport.

"Wow!" shouted a familiar voice behind Trunks.

He smiled and glanced back at this friend with thick black hair. Goten was dressed in a Hawaii shirt covered in palm trees, white jean shorts, red tong sandals, and black shades.

"Oh wow, this is so cool. We're in Florida Trunks! I've never been in the U.S. Well I've flown over it a couple of times, but I never really stop to look around or anything. This is great I'm in America!"

"Calm down Goten," said Trunks pulling out his own pair of expensive shades and putting them on. "You're acting like a kid at Disney World."

Goten turned to Trunks with sparkling eyes. "Can we go to Disney World?!" He ran over to his best friend and grabbed his arm, shaking it. "Please Trunks, pretty please."

"What you want to go on the Dumbo ride?" said Trunks freeing his arm. "I think they have a height requirement for that."

"Trunks!" whined Goten.

Trunks laughed at his excited friend. "It's fine with me, but you'll have to ask the girls first. Remember, I have to go to my meeting. You can ask them for us okay."

"Oh come on Trunks. Can't you skip this meeting, just this once. We miss you," said Goten.

Trunks shook his head. "Sorry, I can't. I'm a man of business and my word. I promised I'd be there, so I have to go."

Goten sighed. "Pan's going to be disappointed."

The corners of Trunks' mouth dropped a little. "I know, but I'm planning on making it up to her when I see her tonight," said Trunks. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a small box and looked at it nervously.

"What's that?" asked Goten leaning in for a better look.

"This?" laughed Trunks nervously. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," he said sticking it back into his pocket.

"I don't think it's nothing, special since you're acting so strange. Let me see!" shouted Goten jumping on his best friend's back.

"Ahhhh Goten!" shouted Trunks staggering about the staircase trying to pry his friend off. The ground crew was giving them strange looks and the airport police were wondering if the purple haired man was being attacked.

Goten some how managed to get his hand in Trunks' pocket and snatched the box out.

"Goten you're messing up my hair! Ahhh, no! Careful with that!" shouted Trunks spotting Goten with the box. All of Trunks attention went to the box in Goten's hand and he failed to put his foot properly on the next step down.

"Ahhhh!" shouted both men as they went crashing down the last of the steps, landing in a heap at the bottom.

"Are you all right Miss?" asked one of the ground crew that had just shown up right when the two went falling down the steps. He leaned down to help Trunks up as the purple haired man tried to flip his long hair out from his face; it had come loose for its ponytail when Goten had jumped on him.

"Miss!" said Trunks getting up on his own. "I'm a guy."

The ground crew man blushed. "I'm sorry," he said bowing low to Trunks.

Goten laughed. "Man Trunks, I told you to cut your hair."

"Shut up! Mr. Trowa look alike!" said Trunks roughly gathering back up his shoulder blade length hair and tying it back up in a messy ponytail. "I don't have time to get it cut."

"Sure you don't. Do I really look like Trowa? Cool!" said Goten playing with his long bangs that hung over one eye. 

"Man, you're hopeless," said Trunks tying to smooth out his hair. He hadn't cut it in a couple of years and it had gotten pretty long. He kind of liked the change and so had let it continue to grow. Unfortunately some did mistake him for a girl at quick glance, but he was use to it now. Plus, he wondered what Pan would think of it long, she had always loved playing with it when it was shorter. Trunks sighed and closed his eyes, remembering how Pan use to run her fingers through his hair while they talked after making-

"Holy cow Trunks! This is a diamond!" shouted Goten breaking Trunks from his little daydream.

"Give me that!" shouted Trunks snatching the ring and box from his friend.

"Trunks is that for Pan?" asked Goten in a dazed voice. "Are you going to ask her to marry you!"

Trunks blushed. "Maybe," he said in a quite voice.

"Maybe! You've got the ring!"

"I've had the ring for a couple years now, Goten. I just haven't given it to her. I don't know if I'm ready to get married." He fingered the box, tossing it back and forth between his hands.

"Go for it! Go for it!" shouted Goten. "You two should have gotten married years ago!"

"It's not that simple Goten," said Trunks.

"Oh you're just nervous," said Goten nodding. "That's normal. She'll say yes, you know she will."

Trunks laughed nervously. "You think so?"

Goten nodded his head wildly. "Hey, I know my little niece."

"Maybe.... maybe I'll ask her tonight," said Trunks looking down at the box.

Goten slapped him on the back.

"Oh Kami!" shouted Trunks.

"What?!" shouted back Goten looking around.

"What time is it?!" he asked looking at his watch. "Ahhhh! I've got to go! My meeting is going to start in 15 minutes and I've got to be in New York City. Bye Goten, see you tonight!" yelled Trunks running way to a spot were he could take off without any one seeing him.

"Be in New York City in 15 minutes?!" said one of the ground crew. "Yah, good luck," snickered another.

Goten smiled and looked up to see a figure flying by at high speeds. "If you weren't late so much Trunks, you get out of shape really fast," laughed Goten. "Let's see I need to get a taxi and have them take to me to the Sunset Hotel?" he said scratching his head and looking down at piece of paper that Trunks had given him earlier with instruction on it. "How do I get a taxi?"

***********

"Maron, please don't be upset," said Pan trying to keep up with her blond friend's fast pace. "I said I was sorry."

"I almost got run over by not just one, but TWO speed boats," growled Maron walking faster. "I could have been killed, because you weren't doing your job as a spotter!" she turned and jabbed a finger at Pan.

"Oh come on Maron. You know you're too strong to die just because a boat or two runs you over," laughed Pan. "Maron? Maron!" called Pan running after her friend as she turned and stomped away. "Come on it was a joke. Don't be mad."

Bra came bouncing up to them. "Who wants ice cream?!" she called with a cardboard tray in her hand filled with triple scoops of ice cream. "I've got mint chip, your favorite Maron!"

Maron still grumbling continued to stomp off.

"She's still mad at us?" said Bra. She leaned over to lick her own cone in her other hand, it was starting to melt. 

Pan nodded.

"Maron if you don't want this I'm going to eat it myself!" shouted Bra waving the tray with the other cones in it.

Maron turned around still mutter and walked right up to the blue haired demi-saiyan. Without a word of thanks she snatched her ice cream, turned around, and stomped away.

"You're welcome!" shouted Bra at her back.

Pan took her cone and licked the top scoop, strawberry. "Mmmmm, this is good ice cream."

"Don't I get one?" asked a voice from behind.

"Goten!" shouted Bra and Pan. Maron stopped her fuming to look over her shoulder.

Goten smiled his classic Son smile and waved at them. "Hi girls, long time no see."

"Goten!" shouted Bra jumping on him. "Oh I missed you! I'll go buy you an ice cream right now, triple scoops, no quadruple scoops!" laughed the demi-saiyan girl.

Goten licked his lips. "Really, just for me? You're the best Bra!"

She pulled Goten down so that she could whisper in his ear. "Go say hello to Maron, she missed you dummy." Bra let go of him and ran off to go buy another ice cream.

Goten looked up and smiled warmly at Maron. "Maron don't I get a hug?" he asked opening his arms. 

Maron's frown melted and she walked over to let him hug her. "You're late," she said nuzzling his neck.

Goten laughed. "I got lost. First, I couldn't get a taxi so I decided to trying finding the hotel myself, and then I forgot my luggage, and-"

Pan laughed. "That's Goten for you. So, how's Trunks. Do you know when he'll be back?" Pan looked at her Uncle with hopeful eyes.

Goten sadly shock his head. "I'm sorry Pan. I don't know the time, but he will be back tonight."

Pan's smile dropped a little, but then brightened. "Well, then we'll see him tonight for sure. It's been so long since we've gotten together."

Maron sighed. "It's a lot harder now that we've all got jobs and stuff," said Maron leaning against Goten. "I feel really sorry for Bra. Her new singing career makes it almost impossible for her to be with Uub theses days."

Goten nodded. "I can't even remember when I last saw Uub, not to mention Base and Almuerzo." The demi-saiyan man smiled remembering his other friends. "It's too bad they couldn't come with us, I miss them."

"We'll have to have a reunion when we get back to Tokyo," said Pan. "All eight of us, like old times."

"Oh, I think we'll all be getting together soon enough," said Goten with a wide grin on his face while looking at Pan. "Really soon."

"What for?" asked Maron.

Goten laughed. "I can't tell you it's a surprise," he said kissing her cheek. "You'll all find out tonight."

Bra came skipping back with a tall cone of ice cream. "Goten!" she sang waving it at him. Goten's tongue dropped out and he wiped the drool off the corner of his mouth. 

***********

"Sir!" said a soldier standing behind the tall dark figure.

"Yes," said Tenma still staring out at the sea of space.

"Sir, we have the information regarding planet 225-963-007's champion that you requested."

Tenma turned around and grinned down at his soldier. "Good, tell me what you have learned."

"Sir, his name is Mister Satan. As far as we can tell he is considered to be the strongest man on the planet and quit famous. It wasn't hard finding this information, he's regarded as top fighter all over the globe."

"Mister Satan," said Tenma bring a hand up to his chin in thought. He smiled a wicket grin. "Locate that planet's top cities and put fire locks on them, but leave the one that this Mister Satan is living in alone. We'll issue a formal challenge after we've gotten their attention." Tenma grinned devilishly and turned back to look out the window.

"Sir," said the soldier and ran to give out his captain's orders.

***********

Pan sighed and looked at her watch, it was only 2:00 in the afternoon; night was taking too long to get there. She glanced back at Goten who was being pulled around behind Bra's Capsule speedboat in a large black and blue inner tube.

"Faster!" shouted Goten giving them the thumbs up sign for more speed.

Maron who was driving looked at her speed gage. "Bra, just what was the limit for how fast you could go with a tube behind you?"

Bra shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I think that's only so little kids won't get hurt, you can probably go as fast as you want with Goten back there."

"Faster!" shouted Goten waving his arms in the air. "Go faster!"

Maron shrugged her shoulders as Bra had done and floored it.

"Wwweeee!" shouted Bra trying to hold her long blue hair out of her face. 

Maron grinned devilishly and turned the wheel sharply, increasing her speed.

"Ummm....." said Pan staring at the tube behind them.

"Oh my. I guess there is a reason for a speed limit with tubes," said Bra.

"What?!" shouted Maron over the roar of wind. "What's going on back there?!"

Pan and Bra stared back at the air born inner tube with a wide-eyed Goten clinging to it. A gush of wind hit the tube and tipped it over, casing it to turn several times before smashing back into the water upside down. Goten for some stupid reason hadn't let go of the upside down, out control tube. Every time they hit a wave the tube would bounce up and they could see him still stuck upside down in the tube.

Pan and Bra developed large sweat drops on their heads.

"Um.... should I put up the flag?" asked Pan.

"He's not out of the tub," said Bra watching at they hit another big wave and Goten appeared once more only to disappear once the tube landed again.

"What's going on back there? Why are you two so quite all of a sudden," asked Maron. 

Bra and Pan ".........."

"He's got to let go sooner over later," said Bra.

"I think he might drown first," said Pan.

Maron dared a look over her shoulder and gasped, she slammed on the breaks. The inner tube went under the water like a missile and ran like a torpedo under the boat. A moment later it went shooting out of the water. Goten went flying free, doing several flips in the air, before belly flopping into the water.

Maron, Pan, and Bra winced at the ungraceful flight and landing.

"That's got to hurt," said Bra.

"Goten!" shouted Maron levitating up and flying over to the crash site of the demi-saiyan. She found him belly up in the water, eyelids peeled back and mouth frozen wide in a silent scream, fingers twitching usually about the inner Tube's handles which had ripped off with him. Maron grabbed him by a leg and levitated up higher. She flew back to the boat with Goten hanging by one leg like some kind of dead hunting trophy. Maron dropped him on the front of the boat and knelt down beside him. "Goten?" she called slapping him lightly on the face.

Goten closed his mouth, then began to squirm and laugh uncontrollable. The three girls exchanged glance, not understanding what was so funny.

Goten continued to laugh rolling around on the boat's front, the girls noticed something flopping around in Goten's short; all raised an eyebrow.

Goten stood up and shook his swim trunks, till a large fish flopped out one leg, flopped around on the boat a little, then managed to throw it's self back into the water.

"That's one way to catch fish," said Bra in amusement.

"Yah, but who'd want to eat a fish that's been down Goten's shorts," said Pan wiggling her nose.

They heard clapping and everyone turned around to see Trunks still in his tan business suit levitating above them clapping his hands. "Only Goten is so skilled," he smiled down at them.

"Trunks!" shouted Pan and leapt up wrapping her arms around the longhaired man.

"Pan!" shouted Trunks before they both fell out of the sky like a pair of stones and into the water with a splash.

Trunks popped out with a gasp. "Oh Kami! This was my favorite suit! Ahhhh! My cell phone!" shouted Trunks digging in his pocket he pulled out a small black phone and opened it; water poured out. Trunks stared at it in shock.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Pan. She grabbed the cell phone and dunked Trunks under the water, his arms flailed wildly trying to free his head. Pan drew back her arm and chucked the cell phone as far as she could. It sailed over the horizon till they could no longer see it.

"Pan!" shouted Trunks gasping for air, his long purple hair had come undone again and was now waving around in the water like a mermaid's mane.

Pan laughed and wrapped her arms around him. "No working! I demand that you take some time off and spend it with me and your friends!" She grabbed him by the hair and made him look her in the eyes. "Holy shit!" she said looking at the length of his hair. "When did you grow all of this!?" she said running a hand through his long hair.

Trunks laughed and levitated up holding on to Pan as he did so. He landed on the boat's front and let her go to grab the sides of his suit and hold them out. "Well, don't I look like a drowned rat or what?"

"No, you look more like a drowned business man or a lawyer," grin Bra.

"Jeez, thanks," snickered Trunks and took off his blazer. His white under-shirt had become nearly transparent from the water and was plastered to him.

"Oh I have so got to get you out of those clothes," said Pan with a predatory look in her eyes. "I mean- out of those clothes and into a pair of swim trunks!" she said blushing. 

Trunks blushed as well and the others laughed at the couple.

"Save it for later you two," teased Maron.

"Trunks, how come you're back so soon," asked Goten.

"Well, I cut the meeting short so I could get here faster," smiled Trunks.

"You?! Cut a meeting short?!" said Goten grasping his heart as if he was having a heart attack. "You haven't done that since when you first became president of Capsule Corps."

"Oh stop mocking me. This is the thanks I get for cutting an important meeting short to be with you guys?" He pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

Pan smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks," she whispered into his ear

Trunks blushed and stuck his hands in his pants pockets, one hand curled around a small box, and his heart began to beat wildly in his chest.

"Pan?" he said turning to her. It was know or never.

"Yes?" she asked.

Trunks opened his mouth to speak, but a gush of air so powerful it flipped over their boat hit them suddenly, followed by a roaring boom.

Trunks gasped again as his head popped out of the water. His eyes widen as they looked off to the north. A giant mushroom cloud billowed up into the sky, Trunks could tell it was very far away, but the shear size us it!

"Pan!" shouted Trunks turning around it the water. "Goten! Bra! Maron!"

Maron, Goten, and Bra all came up gasping for breath and coughing.

"Where's Pan?!" shouted Trunks scanning around. The others did like-wise.

"I don't see her anywhere!" said Maron franticly. 

Trunks filled his lungs with air and dove under the water. It was hard to see in the slightly murky water, but what he couldn't see with his eyes he felt with his other senses. Trunks felt Pan ki, he swam towards it till it became stronger and he spotted something orange: pan's bandana. Trunks wrapped one arm around Pan's shoulders and kicked his feet. He nearly rose straight out of the water, rising all the way up to his waist, before sinking back down to his shoulders.

"Pan!" shouted Maron swimming towards the two. 

"Bring her over here!" shouted Bra who had climbed on to the bottom of their over turned boat. Trunks swam towards his sister dragging Pan's limp body with him. Goten got to the boat before him and help him haul Pan out and onto the turned over boat.

"Out of the way!" shouted Maron climbing up and going over to Pan. "Give me some room." Maron had worked as a lifeguard over the summer, and knew what to do in these kinds of situations. 

"Is she going to be okay?" asked Goten in a worried voice.

Maron leaned over Pan and checked her breathing and pulse. He pinched Pan's nose closed and sealed her mouth with her own, giving her two short breaths. After the second breath, Pan coughed up some water, Maron rolled her over on her stomach and patted her back lightly as Pan continued to empty her lungs of water.

"What happened?" she asked in a dazed voice.

"Hold still," said Maron in a firm voice. She took hold of Pan's head and touched a cut on her temple. Pan hissed and slapped her hand away. 

"Don't do that! It hurts!" she said touching the cut herself and wincing.

"Looks like you got hit with something when that blast hit us. Must have stunned you or something."

"Should we have that looked at?" asked Trunks.

"I'll be fine," said Pan getting shakily up to her feet.

"Don't push yourself," said Maron. Pan stagger and Trunks stood up wrapping his arms around her as she moaned and held her head.

"What do you think that blast was?" asked Bra looking in the direction it had come from. The sky where Trunks had seen the mushroom cloud was still covered in white.

"My Kami.... It's huge," whispered Bra. 

"Do you think it's a nuclear blast or something?" asked Goten.

"No, too far away, even a nuclear war head doesn't cause damage that far away."

"Kami, I think that was New York City, the place I just came from," said Trunks.

"That's a couple states away!" protested Goten.

"Let's check it out," said Bra.

The group levitated up, Trunks shifted Pan on to his back, since she was still dazed from her injuries. 

As they flew the cloud only got bigger, but it was starting to thin out a little. The ground they flew over was ripped up. The closer they got to the blast sight, the more churned up the ground became. 

"Kami, the shock wave must have ran all the way around the planet," said Bra. Trees were blown flat, houses were demolished, and chaos was everywhere.

"What happened here," said Maron in a shaky voice. They reached the place that was once New York City. It was gone; blown away. Nothing remained, but a giant creator stretching for miles upon miles. 

"Kami.... all those people..." said Goten staring with wide eyes at the ground. "How could someone do that?!" he shouted angrily. "There's nothing left! Not even a blade of grass!" he shouted tears running down his cheeks. 

"Goten," said Maron flying over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he buried his face in her shoulder and wept.

"Who would do something like this?" breathed Trunks. He was in shear horror of what he was seeing. What was the point of blowing up a city like that? There wasn't any war that the U.S. was fighting at the time so who had attacked. Could it be a new super power? Trunks trembled at the thought of an enemy so cruel.

"Guys I don't think this was the only place destroyed like this," said Bra making a fist.

"Why do you say that?" asked Trunks turning to look at his sister. 

"Because, even though that was no doubt a powerful blast, I don't think that it would have reached us all the way in Florida without some help. 

"What do you mean?!" demanded Trunks. He had an idea of what his sister was getting at, but he just didn't want to think about what that meant.

"I think that several other spots all over the planet were hit like this and joined in one massive wave that just kept going as it picks up shock waves from different blasts. If I didn't know any better I'd think that blast were made to all go in one direction towards or away from some place."

Trunks shivered he knew that his little sister was right, for a shock wave to travel that far it would need a couple good pushes along the way to keep it going. He knew this from his training as a fighter and from his teachings at Capsule Corps. 

"In order to do something like that, the attack would have to come from different stations all around the planet, in space. Trunks lifted his head and peered up into the heavens.

***********

Tenma grinned as he watched different spots all over the blue and green planet blow up in bursts of white. He never tired of watching the beauty of destruction, it was an art in its self to him. 

"Sir, what now?" asked one of his soldiers.

"We send a little invite to this Mister Satan," said Tenma, his voice laced with amusement. 

Name means:

-Tenma: Japanese word for demon

-Almuerzo: Spanish word for Lunch.


	2. Chapter1: Shadows Descend, Secrets Revel...

****

War of Worlds

Chapter1: Shadows Descend, Secrets Reveled

Bulma looked at the TV screen with wide eyes.

"Chaos has broken out all around the globe. Twain, China, Britain, France, Egypt, Brazil, New York, Washington, Mexico, and the Philippines have all been hit with bombs of unknown origin. A massive shock wave rolled completly around the planet causing worldwide injuries, death, and damage. The extent of damage is unknown at this point, but reports say that the areas where the attacks hit are completely annihilated. Death tolls can not be measured just yet. The persons responsible for the attacks have yet to reveal themselves and their demands."

The rest of the report fell on deaf ears. Bulma shook all over. What kind of monsters would attack10 major countries like that. It couldn't be a group of terrorists; no one was stupid enough to attack countries on all seven continents at once. "Could it be a new enemy, like Cell or Buu?" wondered Bulma out loud. Only a monster like them would go on a senseless killing spree.

The phone rang on the hook and Bulma walked over and picked it up. "Mrs. Briefs. We've got an emergency at the Capsule Corps. We've lost 12 major factories in the resent attacks. We need you at the office right away."

"Fine, I'll be right down. Have the President met me there," said Bulma.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Briefs, but we've lost contact with President Trunks after the New York bombing."

Bulma's heart all but stopped. "Lost contact," she whispered.

"Mrs. Briefs?" called the employee on the phone as it slipped for Bulma's hands. Lost Contact. Lost Contact! LOST CONTACT! "Oh Kami," said Bulma leaning against the wall. What if Trunks had been in New York City when the explosion hit?! Could it have killed him?! Even Vegeta was venerable when his defensives were down. "Oh Kami," said Bulma grabbing a jacket she staggered out of the house grabbing her cell phone. She rapidly pushed the number for Trunks' cell phone.

"We're sorry the number you have dialed has been disconnected, please hang up and try again." 

Bulma punched in the number again. "Come on Trunks pick up the phone, pick up the phone," she chatted under her breath.

"We're sorry the number you have dialed-"

"No!" screamed Bulma at the phone.

Bulma punched in the number of the Sunset Hotel, hoping desperately that someone was there; that Bra and Trunks were there.

"Hello, Sunset Hotel-" said an operator's voice.

"Put me through to Trunks Briefs' room now!" shouted Bulma into the phone.

"We're sorry, do to circumstances, we are unable to come to the phone right now, please leave a message after the peep."

Bulma was about ready to cry, she didn't know where her children were, she didn't even know if they were alive.

She roughly snapped the cell phone shut and got into her car. Please be okay, Trunks, Bra, she thought as she drove to the center of Satan City.

***********

Trunks, Bra, Pan, Maron, and Goten all stood on the charred land that was once New York City.

Goten still held Maron to him, as if afraid she would disappear if he let her go. Bra hugged her arms and faced the howling wind, which ripped across the land with out any barriers to block it. Trunks was supporting Pan, who seemed to still be dazed from the strike to the temple.

"Kami, if this happened in more then one spot, then the force that did this could be frightfully powerful," said Trunks.

Bra breathed in a sharp breath. "Oh no! What if Satan City was hit like this!" she shouted turn against the wind to face them.

Goten's head snapped up. "NO! Gohan! Mother!" shouted Goten he turned and jumped into the air.

"Goten!" shouted Maron powering up and flying after the panicked demi-saiyan.

Bra looked at Trunks, who nodded at her, and wordlessly Bra jumped into the air.

"Pan, can you fly, are you okay?" asked Trunks brushing some hair out of her eyes.

"I-I'll be f-fine," said Pan. She pushed Trunks away and swayed on her feet. Trunks reached out and pulled her back against him, she didn't even protest as he picked her up and flew after the others. This made Trunks more worried, Pan wasn't the type of girl that liked to be rescued. She never would have let him carry her if she could help it. Trunks powered up more and increased his speed. He needed to get her to a hospital.

***********

Bulma was driving her car, when suddenly the car in front of her slammed on its breaks. She slammed right into the car's bummer and another car slammed into her car from behind. "Shit," she cursed pulled herself off her air bag.

"Greetings natives of planet 225-963-007. I'm am Tenma, a captain in Lord Lucifer's army."

Bulma opened her car door and got out, as many other drivers did, to see an image of a black skinned alien with red eyes and wild spiky hair.

"This planet is now the property of my great Lord Lucifer. Fighting back is unadvisable, but if you should feel the need to put up a pathetic struggle then as a captain of Lucifer's army I shall face it. If your so-called champion, Mister Satan, will face me for the fate of his planet I personally will fight him. If he can defeat me, I and my men will leave your planet without farther damaging it."

Bulma felt her heart squeeze. Mister Satan! Fight to determine the fate of Earth! They were screwed! She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone again.

"I'm issue a formal challenge to Mister Satan. Meet me at three, your planet's time, at the center of this city. If you do not show up, then I shall destroy it as I did the others. You have 30 minutes."

The image blinked out and left the skies clear. A cry of terror hit the city people. Many began pulling out their cars and trying to drive away, no doubt trying to flee the city. Others screamed in fear and soon all out mayhem had seized them all. Bulma was shoved and fell on her butt, wincing. In the fall she'd dropped her cell phone among the crowd of stomping feet. "No," said Bulma looking around wildly for the lost phone. She spotted a phone booth and pushed her way towards it. She reached it and climbed inside closing the glass door behind her. "Change," she muttered digging in her pocket for some coins. Luck was with her at the moment and she found a quarter. She pushed it down the phone's slot and dialed her home number.

"Please, don't be in the damn gravity room, please pick up the phone Vegeta," whispered Bulma. The phone continued to ring endlessly. Bulma's lower lip quivered. "Damn it!" she screamed slamming the phone down. "I knew I should have put a phone in there!" 

She dug in her pockets looking for more change to try calling Gohan, but she didn't have any more quarters.

"What do I do...." she asked looking up into the ceiling of the booth.

**********

Bulma found herself among a crowd of people that had gathered at the city block. Reporters, camera crews, fans, and city citizens had all gathered to watch their champion defend them.

"Mister Satan is the best! He'll show those alien bastards just what he's made of!" shouted one fan. Others in the crowd chanted Satan's name and waved banners of the champion of earth. 

Yah, we'll all see what he's made of when that alien rips him to piece right in front of us though Bulma biting her lips. She had to do something, but what could she do? She didn't have any fighting skills or power to drive them away and she couldn't reach someone that did. Her world seemed like it was falling apart around her. Was this the way she was going to die? Alone, without her husband or children, no friends, no allies, just Mister Satan to save the day. Bulma couldn't help but slap a hand over her eyes and groan. She'd lived through, Pilaf, the red ribbon army, Piccolo, the saiyans, Freeza, living with Vegeta, Cell, having two demi-saiyan, getting that stubborn ass of a prince to marry her, Buu, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let herself be killed today. There had to be something she could do!

The crowd cheered madly as Mister Satan appeared to stand on the ring that had been constructed for the fight. Bulma's heart sank just looking at him. Mister Satan was getting old anyone could see that, yet so many still cheered him on. Everyone here believed in him, except her. Kami, she wouldn't trade places with him for anything in the whole universe.

"Where are you, you alien monster!" shouted Satan. "Come down here and face me and I'll show you just what we humans can do!"

Bulma couldn't help but admire him for just a moment, his voice never quivered, he stood tall, and his eyes reflected a kind of determination. It was easy to go along with the crowd and believe that the man in front of them would fix everything. But, she knew better.

As if to answer Satan, a beam of light fell down from the sky and landed on the ring next to Mister Satan, who took a step back away from it. Several others appeared and landed all around the stage. There was a flash of light and Tenma and a dozen of his soldiers appeared on the stage. Satan had to look up to see Tenma's face, the alien must have been eight feet tall, he towered over Mister Satan. The Crowd was so quite you could here a pin drop.

Tenma smiled. "Well I can see that you humans at least have some balls, I thought you won't show up."

Mister Satan frowned. "I'm not a coward! I've come here to fight and defeat you, and I will!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

Tenma laughed. "Your species is a funny one, I can sense little to no power coming from you. You're not even a challenge to me."

"We'll see about that," barked Satan crouching down into a fighting stance.

Tenma looked overly amused. "Very well, if you insist."

Bulma bowed her head. Dende, please, if you can hear me. Find that jerk I married and get his tail over her, please she prayed.

***********

Vegeta sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow that had been a satisfying exercise. He walked into the house through the back door, he noted that the TV was still going. Another one of that woman's shows he snorted. Where is that woman anyway he thought walking up the stairs and down the hall to his room. Once there he stripped off his boots, gloves, tight black shorts, and stepped into the shower letting the hot water rinse all the sweat and grim off his lean, muscular body. 

It was a short shower, but the mirrors were all fogged up when he got out. Vegeta liked his showers hot and short. He toweled down and got dressed in a pair of black slacks, a white under-shirt, and his pink BADMAN shirt. He left the front of the shirt open and pulled on a pair of socks and a pair of black sneakers.

Vegeta left his and Bulma's room, he noticed that the TV was still on, but Bulma wasn't watching it. "Where the hell did that woman go?" he muttered opening the fridge and taking out a can of soda. He opened the can and walking into the living room, eyes searching for his mate, they landed on the TV. An eyebrow raised up.

"Is this another one of that fool's movies?" said Vegeta.

On the TV Mister Satan was getting the stuffings beaten out of him by a tall black skinned alien. He already looked half-dead as the alien continued to torture him, breaking already broken bones, cutting, and bruising his body and face. Vegeta briefly wondered if Mister Satan was suppose to be the bad guy in this movie, he looked like he was losing. Of course, wasn't that the way all movies were? The main character gets royally screwed up in the first couple minutes then magically turn around and beat the crap out of his opponent? Vegeta really didn't think Mister Satan could walk let alone beat that black creature that continued to torture him. 

Vegeta spit out his drink as a blue haired woman crawled up on the ring and screamed for the alien to stop. Several soldiers in uniforms grabbed her, one yanking her head back by her long blue hair.

"This isn't a fucking movie! That's Bulma!" screamed Vegeta. "Get your hands off my mate!" he screamed at the TV. His face fell as he raised he was screaming at a TV which wasn't very likely to do as he said. "Fuck!" shouted Vegeta flying straight through the glass back door and off to Satan City.

***********

Tenma punched Mister Satan in the mouth, knocking loose some teeth. When the human dropped down to his knees Tenma booted him across the stage to crash into one of the corner posts. Satan coughed up blood, he had a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, lots of internal bleeding, cuts, and bruises all over his body. He tried to pull himself up, but without his arms to help him it was a slow process and Tenma wasn't that patient. The alien walked over to the beaten man and kicked him in the stomach causing him to fly up so he could grab him by the back of his shirt.

"Do you admit defeat?" asked Tenma in an amused voice. "If you do I just might let you live."

Satan clamped his teeth shut, shivering with the pain that raked his body.

Tenma snorted. "You humans truly are a stupid lot. Very well, I'll kill you and put you out of your misery." Tenma raised up a hand to strike Mister Satan, but a commotion out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He watched as a blue haired female pulled herself up onto the ring. His soldiers moved to restrain her. 

"You leave him alone you alien bastard!" she shouted trying to wiggle out of their grip. "Get your hands off me!" A soldier grabbed her by the hair and pulled, causing Bulma to make a small gasp before growling at the puller.

Tenma couldn't help but laugh at her. "That girl holds more spirit then your so called champion. Pathetic," he said throwing Satan down on the floor. 

Satan hit hard on his back and didn't have the strength left to try getting back up. To everyone's surprise he began to laugh.

"What's so damn funny human?!" snarled Tenma.

"I'm not *cough* I'm not... the planet's champion. I can't even ... compare to the... amount... of power they have."

"They! Who are they?!" growled Tenma reaching down and lifting Satan off the ground by the front of his shirt to dangle in the air.

"The golden haired fighters," smiled Satan. "They... are the ones.... They defeated...*cough* Cell and Buu. The fight against Baby... it was all them."

A collective gasp ran through the crowd and a low roar started.

"Silence!" shouted Tenma. "It doesn't matter, you're still going to die," he growled in Satan's face. "Any more sins you wish to confess before I send you to hell," asked Tenma in an amused voice.

Satan continued to smile. "You're going to regret coming to earth," he choked.

"I don't think so old man," said Tenma. He lifted his free hand and it began to glow. Without another word he shoved it through Satan's chest and into his heart. 

Bulma watched with horror transfixed eyes as he dropped the once great man to the floor. A pool of blood began to form around him, his eyes closed in death, he looked almost peaceful. "You monster," whispered Bulma.

Tenma turned to look at her. He stalked over and grabbed her chin wrenching her face up. Bulma glared back at him with cold eyes. 

"Ahh, some of you humans are very pretty to look at," he said rubbing a few strands of Bulma's blue hair between his fingers. "But, you're all stupid." He backhanded Bulma across the face.

Bulma gasped and slowly turned her head back to glare at Tenma with hate filled eyes. Her eyes looked over his shoulder, a sudden hopeful look crossed her face, before she grinned back at Tenma with a smug look. "You are so dead," she said, she voice full of amusement.

"You bitch!" roared Tenma drawing back his hand to slap her again. He never completed the swing as someone catches and held his hand in an iron grip. Before he could even turn he was sent flying to one corner of the ring to crash into a corner post. He heard his men cry out and fire their weapons. Tenma opened his eyes and watched at the rifle cannons his men held broken into several pieces in their hands. They all gasped and backed up. Standing with his back to him was a man with wild black hair sweep up like fire. He wore black pants and a pink shirt with the words BADMAN written on the back.

The man didn't even turn to look at him, he walked over to the blue haired woman and gentle grabbed her chin lifting her face to see her bruised cheek.

"You little shit!" roared Tenma. "For his insult you all will die!" Tenma climbed up to his feet and stalked towards the shorter man. He grabbed him by the shirt and raised up his fist to strike him, but froze as the man turned his head and glared at him with cold black eyes. Tenma had only seen eyes like that on one other man, a man that brought terror to even his friends and allies; one that's presents demanded respect.

The man whipped around lighting fast and punched him in the chest. Tenma went flying back into another corner of the ring. There was a long ripping sound as the pink shirt was torn off the man's back. Tenma looked at his hand to see he hadn't let go of it when the man had hit him. This man wasn't a weakling like the other; his man was a true fighter. 

"I see," said Tenma getting back up. He tossed the pink shirt aside. "I had thought that all of you humans had no power, but it would appear that I was mistaken."

"You," said the man with wild hair. "Did you touch her?"

Tenma smirked. "And, what if I did?"

"Then I have to kill you," said the man with a half grin. 

Tenma laughed. "You kill me?! Oh, you Humans! You crack me up!" He laughed wildly. 

"You're no match for me," said the man. A long furry reddish brown tail unwrapped from around his waist to stand straight behind him, tip curled. 

Tenma's laugh died in his throat and several of his men backed away, they all looked terrified.

"I-it's a s-s-saiyan!" shouted one of the men.

The crowd roared low in confusion both about the man's tail and the reaction the invaders were having to it.

"Don't be stupid. The saiyans are extinct. Freeza killed them all," said Tenma, sweat rolled down his forehead.

The man smirked. "Actually he killed all but four, two of us are still alive."

"Impossible," said Tenma. "Even if you are a saiyan I'm more then powerful enough to take you down."

"You thinks so?" said the man in an amused voice.

"Ha! I don't even need to fight you, my men will rip you to pieces while I watch."

The spiky haired man raised an eyebrow and looked at the soldiers. "They don't look like they want to rip me to pieces. They look rather shook up."

Tenma glanced at his men and they were all trembling while starting at the man with the tail. Tenma growled. "Don't just stand there! Get him!" he roared.

The men jumped, then growled moving to circle the man with the tail.

The man snorted and crossed his arms. "12 against one?" he said looking at Tenma. "I like those odds."

"Enough! Attack!" shouted Tenma.

The men all ran at him. The man with the tail jumped up and kicked the first soldier in the throat. He jumped back into a flip and landed on the second, braking his spine. Two came in at him from the sides, the man with the tail jumped up and kicked them at the same time in the face. They fell back with their necks snapped. One punched at his back, but the man only tilted his head to the side and the soldier fell forward. He brought up a knee and the soldier slammed into it on his way down and didn't get up. Four soldiers surrounded him on all sides, the tailed man jumped up and did a tornado kick, hitting them all with bone shattering force. One came in to the front swinging wildly at him with his firsts. The tailed man ducked and dodged the punches. Another soldier came up from the back and did the same thing. The tailed man danced between them, it looked like he had eyes in the back of his head the way he perfectly dodged both the man in front and the one in back. The tailed man ducked low and both soldiers' fist connected with each other's faces, knock them flat. The tailed man stood up and looked at the lone remaining soldier. He'd killed all the rest and hadn't even uncrossed his arms.

In pure fear the lone soldier backed away from the man with a tail. "Worthless," he heard before turning to see Tenma behind him with an arm raised. 

"Captain!" shouted the soldier before he was sent into orbit by the alien's powerful strike.

"You are good, I'll give you that much saiyan. But, I am stronger still." With that said Tenma crouched down and growled. The ring shook, people panicked as a mini earthquake hit caused by Tenma's power up. Sparks of energy crackled around him and he roared as a blast of ki shot out from his body. He stood before the saiyan: taller, covered with more thick muscles, and radiating power.

"Is that all?" asked the saiyan.

"Is that all! I'm ten times stronger then you now! I'll crush you like the bug you are!"

The saiyan shook his head. "I'm going to kill you for three reasons," said Vegeta holding up his hand and counting on his fingers. "One, that man you killed saved my life when Kakarot and I were fight Buu. Two, you struck my mate. Three, you ruined one of my favorite shirts," smirked Vegeta. With that said, Vegeta uncrossed his arms and frowned.

"Ha, idle threats saiyan! You really think I'm-" Tenma's words cut off in his throat as the ground began to shake, then cracked to pieces at the saiyan's feet. The clouds in the sky began to swirl in a large circle around the ring. "What in the-" Tenma's eyes locked on the saiyan before him. 

"Yah!" shouted the saiyan as a golden aura surrounds him. His hair blazed brightly then softened to a golden color and his eyes turned to a deep aqua blue.

Tenma took several steps backs. "No you can't be! It's not possible! You can't be a super saiyan!" he screamed looking at the saiyan's cold blue eyes. For some reason they were even colder then the midnight black ones.

Tenma reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote. He gasped as it disappeared from his hand, he looked up at the saiyan who know held it. It didn't even look like he'd moved!

"So you do have a ship up there," said the Saiyan looking up. He raised one hand out to his side. It began to glow white inside of the saiyan's golden aura. 

"What are you doing?!" shouted Tenma taking a step forward. The saiyan's eyes snapped back to look at him and Tenma froze. The saiyan smirked then launched the ki blast straight up into the air.

Tenma's eyes widened and his mouth dropped as a giant explosion filled the sky over head. "M-my ship," stammered Tenma in disbelief.

"Was that your only ride home?" asked the saiyan in amusement. "Too bad."

Tenma snapped out of his daze and growled at him. "I'll kill you saiyan!" he screamed running at him. He threw punches at him too fast for the eye to follow, but the saiyan simply moved his head slightly to the side barely out of the way every time. Growling in frustration Tenma kicked out at the saiyan's feet. The saiyan jumped up, Tenma punched at him in mid leap. The Saiyan's feet landed on Tenma's arm. The alien trembled as he looked up at the saiyan perched on his arm, arms once again crossed. Without a word the saiyan kicked Tenma in the face and the dark alien went flying back. The saiyan landed lightly on ground. 

"W-who are you?" gasped Tenma. He could feel several things broken from the kick.

"My name is Vegeta, the Prince of Saiyans." Vegeta formed a ki blast in one hand and launched it at the downed alien. The alien and the part of ring he'd been sitting on were completely destroyed.

A long pause of silence filled the air, it seemed that everyone was holding their breath as they all stared at the man with golden hair standing triumphantly in the middle of the ring.

"It's him! The one Mister Satan was talking about! The Golden haired fighter!" shouted one person in the crowd. Soon everyone was shouting and cheering, talking, some were even crying. People began taking pictures like mad.

Vegeta snorted and walked over to Bulma. "Stupid woman what were you thinking?" he asked lightly touching her bruised cheek.

"Vegeta do you have any idea what you've done?" asked Bulma as she eyed the crowd of wildly cheering people.

"I've managed to make them all go insane," frowned the prince wincing at the volume of their screams. "Let's get out of here," he growled wrapping his arm around her waist.

"What about Mister Satan's body?" asked Bulma. 

"They'll take care of it," said Vegeta.

"But, what if they do something. He told the truth at the end, that he wasn't responsible for defeating Cell, Buu, or Baby. They know he lied to them. Please Vegeta do something," said Bulma.

"Damn it woman I'm not going to carry that dead man." He growled in frustration. Bulma looked at him with big blue eyes. "All right!"

Everyone went quite as Vegeta was hear above all their talk and cheering. 

"This man has my respect, his body shall be taken care of and not defiled in anyway. If I find out it was, then I will personally hunt down the people that did it!" The crowd was deadly quite. "Happy woman," frowned Vegeta.

Bulma smiled and nodded.

"Good because I'm hungry and you're going to make me something to eat." He picked up Bulma and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "The things I have to do to get a sandwich around here," he grumbled as he powered down to normal and jumped into the air.

"Vegeta!" shouted Bulma as they flew away.

The crowd watched them go in silence, once Bulma's cry was gone, they all bust into action. Reporters shouted wildly into their mics, people ran to find phones, Photographers ran to go develop their film.

***********

Bra dropped back to fly beside her brother who was still holding Pan. "She doesn't look so good."

Trunks nodded. "You go with Maron and make sure Goten's okay. I'm going to find a hospital."

"Okay," said Bra speeding back up to catch her two friends.

Trunks shifted Pan in his arms, she groaned. His eyes scanned the land below luck seemed to be with him at the moment. It appeared that Satan City hadn't been hit by any of the attacks. In fact, the place looked untouched. 

"How can that be when we were hit by the shock wave all the way down in Florida," wondered Trunks out loud. His eyes spotted a hospital and he dropped like a stone to land at the front doors, scaring one patient who was just coming out of the building. Trunks ran past the patent and into the hospital.

"Someone help!" he shouted holding Pan to his chest.

A group of nurses and a doctor ran out to him with a stretcher. 

"What happened?" asked the doctor taking hold of Pan's head and touching the wound. He untied Pan's bandanna and let it fall to the floor.

"She was hit on the head by debree from the explosions," said Trunks. "Is she okay? She was awake awhile ago."

"Hmmm... she may have a concussion," said the doctor. "I need to do some tests. Don't worry young man, we'll take good carry of her. You just go sit over there on one of those chairs. We'll tell you as soon as we have some news, okay."

Trunks looked torn, he didn't want to leave Pan's side, but the choice was made for him as they wheeled Pan way and into the emergency room. 

Trunks bent down and picked up Pan's orange bandanna. "Pan," he said staring at the doors they had taken her through.

***********

Vegeta landed in the backyard of Capsule Corps. and walked with his wife still over one shoulder into the house.

"Vegeta are you listening to me!" shouted Bulma. Of course he wasn't, he'd stop listening to her screaming after they'd left the fighting ring. 

Vegeta's stomach growled and he put his mate down. "Later. I saved you're butt so you could fix me something to eat."

Bulma threw up her hands in outrage. "What?! Don't you understand?! Mister Satan was the hero of many Vegeta! What the hell do you think is going to happen now that everyone thinks you're the world's protector?! Huh?!"

"Why should I care? I'm going to do some training. You better make something for me to eat, unless you want to deal with me later?" He moved behind her and hugged her, pulling her back against him. "I could always eat you," he said nibbling on her neck then licking her ear. "You know I like the taste of you more then the stuff you call home-cooking."

"Vegeta please be serious! What about Trunks? What about Bra? We have no idea where they are! They could be dead those aliens killed so many!"

Vegeta did get a serious look on his face. "They're fine."

"You don't know that! How could you know that?!" shouted Bulma

"They're fine. Trunks and Bra are strong enough to take care of themselves. Plus, I can still feel them," said Vegeta closing his eyes.

"You can feel them?" said Bulma.

Vegeta nodded, a frown crossed his face.

"What?!" demanded Bulma fearing something had happened to her children.

Vegeta's stomach growled loudly. He opened his eyes. "Woman will you hurry up and fix something, killing makes me hungry."

Bulma snorted and pulled away form him. "My Kami Vegeta! You're clueless! You don't understand just what you've set in motion. Do you even care?"

Vegeta turned and started walking out of the kitchen, he slapped her on the ass as he passed. "Go make me something woman," he said before leaving to go train in the gravity room. Bulma blinked several times and stared in the direction he'd left. 

"He'll never change. Three favorite topics: fighting, food, and sex," sighed Bulma. 

She smiled and shook her head. Her smile left her face. "Guess I'd better call Gohan and tell him what happened. Oh Kami.... poor Videl."

Bulma picked up the phone, she glanced at her watch and realized that Gohan was probably on his way home. Bulma bit her lip and debated weather she should call Videl or Gohan. She settles on Gohan and dialed his cell phone number.

***********

Goten landed in front of his house. 

"MOM!" he shouted running into the house. "Mom!"

Bra and Maron landed and exchanged looks.

"What's going on?" asked a female voice. Bra and Maron turned to see a much older Chichi. Her hair had streaks of gray and her face had a few worry lines, but she was still a very pretty lady. She'd been hanging up wet clothes on clotheslines when they had shown up.

"Maron? Bra? What are you two doing here? I thought you were in Florida with Pan, Trunks, and Goten," said Chichi. 

As she finished saying Goten's name, the man ran out of the house and flung himself all over her. "Mom! You're a live!" he cried picking her up in a giant bear hug and squeezing her. 

Pan and Bra could hear the air leaving the older woman's lungs. She forced open Goten's arms and dropped down to the ground. "Now hold it right there Mister," she said pointing a finger in his face. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Florida with Trunks and Pan. So are you two," said Chichi turning to Maron and Pan. The two girls took a few steps back, even though Chichi was an old woman now she still inspired fear in the hearts of others. 

"Chichi-san," said Bra. "Don't you know? Haven't you heard on TV what happened?"

Chichi's eyebrows moved down. "No, I've been cleaning all day long. I haven't turned on the TV at all." Chichi turned and walked into the house, the others shrugged and followed her. Chichi went over to the TV and turned it on. 

"The Earth has suffered perhaps its greatest tragedies today. The destruction of 10 major countries across the globe has been confirmed as the work of extraterrestrial live forms. The aliens appeared in Satan City and challenged the World Champion, Mister Satan, to a duel. Mister Satan was unfortunately killed in combat, but before dying reveal that he was not responsible for saving the world as was previously believed. Mister Satan said, I quote, 'The golden haired fighters,' were the true savors. After Mister Satan was executed by the leader of the invaders. Vegeta Briefs appeared to fight the aliens."

Bra, Maron, and Goten all exchanged looks.

"Mr. Vegeta single handily defeated 12 alien soldiers and the lead alien who seemed to possess some kind of power. During the fight, Mr. Vegeta's hair turned gold. He is believed to be one of the golden haired fighters that Mister Satan mentioned before he was killed. Also reveled during the fight was that Mr. Vegeta is an alien himself. He was called and admitted to being an alien called a saiyan. Mr. Vegeta claimed to be the Prince of Saiyans, one of two of the remaining species. Footage of the fight will be show tonight at 6."

Bra, Maron, and Goten stood staring at the TV with open mouths.

"Bra, did I just hear that your father saved the world and admitted in public to being an alien?" asked Maron.

Bra with her mouth still open nodded her head.

"Oh Kami.... poor Pan," said Goten.

Bra and Maron snapped their heads up to look at his grief stricken face.

"Goten?" said Maron hugging him. 

"Her, grandpa, Maron. Her grandpa is dead."

Maron closed her eyes and held Goten, rubbing circles in his back. "Shhhh, it will be okay. They're gone, Vegeta-san got rid of them. The fight is over."

Bra frowned and turned around. She wasn't so sure about that. Where had those aliens come from? They couldn't be from Freeza's army, which had been completely wiped out by her papa, and Dr. Myuu's army was gone after he was killed, so where had this new force come from. She thought back at the destructive capabilities of just one of their ships, what if there was more of them? What if there was a fleet of them? What if another one was sent to conquer earth?

***********

"Lord Lucifer," said a smooth liquid voice of a woman. "We have recently lost communications with Tenma and his ship."

"Around where," said the deep voice of a humanoid figure resting on a thrown like chair.

"Their last report was that they were moving in to conquer planet 225-963-007, which was expected to be an easy victory due the natives lack of power and technology."

"Hmmm....." said the shadowy figure. "Tenma was a fool, always barging in without a plan or escape route. Send another ship."

"But my Lord, its just one planet. We can easily leave it, what harm could it do?" asked the smooth female voice.

The shadowy figure glared down at her, his eyes glowed a faint red. The woman shivered under that gaze.

"Do you question me Kijo?"

The woman bowed her head, silky green hair spilled forward to hide her face. "No my lord, I would never question you."

"Good, Send Jaki. He should be able to deal with a few pathetic creatures on a backwater planet in the middle of no where."

"Yes, sir. I'll notify him at once," said the woman getting up and walking out of the room.

Name meanings.

Jaki- Japanese word meaning Devil/ imp

Kijo- Japanese word meaning demoness

Tenma- Japanese word meaning demon


	3. Chapter2: Fame and Fortune? Who needs it...

War of Worlds

Chapter2: Fame and Fortune? Who needs it!

"Gohan! Gohan, are you still there?!" shouted Bulma's voice from the phone. It had slipped through the demi-saiyan's fingers once the blue haired woman had told him the events that had just taken place.

"Dead...." whispered Gohan. He was parked in the driveway of his house. He'd just gotten home when his car phone had rung.

Dead, his father-in-law was dead.

Gohan picked back up the phone. "I'm sorry Bulma, I'm still here," he said, voice sounding distant.

"I'm so sorry Gohan.... I can tell Videl is you want me to," said Bulma's sad voice.

"No.... she should hear it in person. I'll tell her when she gets home from work."

"I'm really sorry Gohan," said Bulma. 

"It's alright Bulma. There was nothing you could do," said Gohan. "I'm going to go now."

"Will you be okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine."

"....Okay. Good bye."

"Good bye," said Gohan hanging up the phone. He leaned back in the driver's seat and looked up at the sky, it would be dark soon. "Why....? Why can't we ever have peace? What good will all this fighting ever do? Children loose parents, parents lose children. Win or lose, fighting brings nothing but pain." 

Gohan unbuckled his seat belt and went inside to wait for his wife to come home.

***********

Vegeta spun in a tornado kick, landing lightly on his feet. The white undershirt had become almost transparent under his arms and on the front of his chest from sweat soaking it. Even his black slacks clung to his butt and thighs. He should have changed into a pair of sweats or a training suit, but his mind was preoccupied. He wasn't taking his invasion business as casually as he was letting Bulma believe he was. What was a warship doing so far out? Earth was practically the middle of no where, the only reasons the saiyans had once set their sites on it was because it was a top class planet that would of fetched a high price in the planet trade. The invaders looked well organized, they had issued uniforms and weapons, and it appeared that they even had ranks. Whoever that dark skinned alien was, he couldn't have been that high up. Just how powerful was the combined force of earth's attackers? More importantly would they send another ship to try and take over the planet again? Vegeta snorted as he threw a round of lightening fast punches at the air in front of him. Whoever they were they had better give up. He wasn't the hero type, but he was waiting for Karkarot to return for their rematch, and it was easier for that pumpkin saiyan to find him if he stayed in one place. Of course, there was also Bulma and the kids. It's not like he could just pack up like he once could and leave this pathetic, backwater, planet.

Vegeta stood up with a pant, he ran his forearm over his sweaty brow and signed. "Karkarot... where the hell are you? How long are you going to keep me waiting?" he asked the empty gravity room as expected no answer came. With another sigh Vegeta picked up a white towel and rubbed down his sweetly body; he was going to need another shower. He tugged at his pants trying to get the fabric to quit sticking to his ass in a rather uncomfortable way. Yes, this had been a bad outfit for train thought the prince. He let the towel hang over his shoulders and grumbling to him self walked over to the door. He pressed a large flat red button on the side of the door, it turned green, the gravity returned to 1g and the door unlocked. 

"That woman had better have fixed me something to eat by now. I don't know how much longer I can last on an empty stomach," he said pulling the door open. A million bright flashes assaulted him all at once. For a minute Vegeta though someone was using the Solar Flare technique on him. The prince blinked the spots out of his vision, a stunned look crossed his face as he saw just what was happening outside his gravity room. People, lots and lots of people, were gather outside the round structure, all shouting and waving things in front of their faces trying to get his attention.

They started moving forward to try and get inside the gravity room. Thinking quite Vegeta backed back into the room and slammed the door shut. Still with a shocked look on his face he leaned against it as if to brace it, like he though they were going to try ramming it down. A sweat drop ran down the side of his head.

He crept over to one of the windows and peered out. He was surrounded! Since the room was sound proof, he hadn't heard them closing in for the killing. 

"Well this is just great!" growled Vegeta. His stomach growled back. Uh... feeling weak," said Vegeta. He'd really gone too long without a meal and fighting always made him hungry. "Shouldn't have skipped breakfast.....ggggrrrrrrr." 

"Maybe I can just go out their and fry all the ones that get in my way, no Bulma would yell still she turns as blue as her hair if I did that." The prince sat down in the middle of the room and rested his chin on his hand in thought. With a huff he flopped back to lay on his back. "Too hungry to think of any but food. Kami, I'm start to sound like Karkarot" The prince waved a hand in front of his face. "It's even starting to get hot in here." He draped his arm over his face. "What a way to go, starved to death while being trapped by a bunch of pathetic humans in my own gravity room. Oh the injustice of it all."   
***********

Bulma finished putting together a giant sub and wiped her hands clean with a kitchen towel. "Better go get Vegeta before he really does decide to eat me." She walked over to the back down and pulled it open.

"Vegeta! Lunch is-" she paled as hundreds of people turned their heads to look in her direction.

"Mrs. Briefs!" they all shouted and started running towards her.

"Eek! Never mind!" shouted Bulma slamming the door shut and locking it . People plastered themselves to the glass door, faces getting smashed up against it, muffled shouts carried through to her ears.

Bulma pulled the curtains so she won't have to see them. 

"Oh no! Vegeta!" she said looking out a window at the gravity room that was completely surrounded by reporters. It didn't take long for reporters to block her view again as they spotted her and moved to take pictures and shout questions at her.

"Go away!" shouted Bulma closing the window curtains. "This is just great! I wonder how long it's going to take before Vegeta goes ballistic and starts killing them. She glanced at the clock it was close to five. "I hope Vegeta's okay. Last time I didn't feed him lunch I found him passed out in the gravity room." 

Bulma picked up the phone and dialed the police.

"Police office, how can I help you?"

"I've got a mob of people parked out on my backyard," said Bulma. "Can you get them off?"

"Where is your house ma'am?"

"I live at Capsule Corps," said Bulma.

There was along pause on the other end of the phone. "Are you Bulma Briefs?"

"Yes," said Bulma.

"Oh Mrs. Briefs! Wow! You are truly an amazing woman! I watched the news footage where you got up to try and defend poor Mister Satan. OH!" squealed the police operator. "You husband's an alien?!!! Wow, my Kami that's incredible. How on earth did you ever find an alien stud like that? Um.... can I ask you a question. How's he in bed?"

'Click'

Bulma growled down at the phone. "Some help you are!" She shouted. "What am I going to do now. Um.... think genius." Bulma raised up her hand and scratched her chin in thought. She glared at the phone as it began to ring. "If it's that police woman, I'm going to scream," said Bulma picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Mom?" asked a female.

"Bra! Oh Bra, sweetly, you're okay. I was so worried. Is Trunks okay? Where's you brother? Can I speak to him? Did he get out of New York before the blast hit?"

"Woe! Woe! Mom, calm down," said Bra. "One question at a time. I'm okay, so is Trunks. He left his meeting early so he wasn't in New York City when it was destroyed. You can't talk to him right now, because he flew Pan to a hospital after she was hurt in the shock wave."

"Pan got hurt?" asked Bulma.

"Yes," said Bra. "But, she's strong. I think she'll be okay. Are you okay mom? Me, Maron, and Goten are at Chichi's house. We've been watching the news. In fact we're watching the outside of the gravity room right now."

Bulma sighed. "Yah, I know." She moved over to the window and peeked out the curtains.

"Hey mom, you're on TV," said Bra.

Bulma sighed again and dropped the curtain. "They've got your father complete trapped, I'm afraid he's either going to starve to death or kill them all."

"Won't that make a great story," said Bra. "Alien monkey saves world only to go insane and kill news media."

"Bra!" snapped Bulma. "That's not funny, I'm really starting to worry about him. You know saiyans, you're father's going to drop dead at this rate."

Bra giggled into the phone. "Maybe me, Maron, and Goten can help you out."

"I'm listening," said Bulma.

"Here's my plan-"

***********

"Are you sure about this Bra?" asked Maron peeking around Capsule Corps at the mass of news media. 

"Come on Maron, you trust my intelligence to pull us through don't you?" said Bra.

Maron gave her a skeptical look.

"I'm hurt," said Bra, faking a pout. "Don't worry Maron I know what I'm doing. You ready Goten?"

"Yup."

"Okay, here I go," said Bra. She brushed herself off and walked out into the backyard.

"It's Miss Bra Briefs!" shouted one news reporter. Soon a mob of people were running toward the blue haired demi-saiyan.

Bra let out an eek! And ran the opposite direction of Maron and Goten.

"Okay, the blue haired cat's out of the bag. Time to raid the pressure cooker before the dogs return," said Maron.

"What?" said Goten scratching his head. "Are we taking a break?"

Maron slapped her face. "Come on," she said pulling him towards the gravity room. Maron reached out to try and open the door. "Damn it's locked. Goten," she said motioning towards the door.

Goten grabbed the door and ripped it off it's hinges. They peered inside to see a comatose Vegeta lying on the floor. 

"Man, you saiyans ready do get weak without food," said Maron looking down at Vegeta. She'd never seen him like that, he didn't look half as scary when he was out cold. "And, this is the second strongest man in the universe," said Maron leaning down. "He kind of reminds me of a house cat right now for some reason."

Goten reached down and threw Vegeta over his shoulder. "I think I hear them coming back."

"Retreat!" shouted Maron running out of the building, Goten not far behind.

They ran towards the back door where Bulma was waiting for them. She locked the door once they were in. "What happened to him?" asked Bulma as Goten dropped him on the couch. 

"Went too long without food," laughed Goten. "You have no idea how many times that's happened to me."

At the mention of food Vegeta cracked an eye open, grumble he sat up. "Am I dead yet?"

"No, Maron and Goten rescued you," said Bulma.

"And Bra," added Maron.

"Bra?" said Vegeta looking around. "Where is she?"

As he finished saying that Bra ran by the glass door, a horde of news reports behind her.

"That's like her third time all the way around the building," said Bulma looking out the window.

"What you mean?! She's just running around in circles!" said Maron. "That was her great plan?!" Maron shook her head.

"Actual it was pretty affective," said Vegeta getting up. He walked to the glass door and opened it.

"Vegeta! What are you doing?! Don't open that!" shouted Goten.

The prince snorted and snatched out his arm, snaring his daughter in mid run, and dragging her inside. He closed and locked the door before the reporters could get in.

"Dad!" chirped Bra hugging him. Tons of flashes assaulted the two. Both father and daughter snorted and pulled the curtains shut.

"This is all your fault woman," said Vegeta.

"My fault!" shouted Bulma. "How is this my fault!"

"If you hadn't gotten up on that ring, I never would have had to go get your sorry butt, and his never would have happened!" growled the saiyan waving at the closed curtains.

"Well sooooo sorry Mr. I'll fight anything that moves, I'm an alien prince, let's tell even one on national TV! I don't need this, first the world blows up, I can't get your sorry butt on the phone, my kids are Kami know where, that guy pulling on my hair-!"

Vegeta clamped his hands over his ears as Bulma continued to list off all the horrors she'd been though today. Goten, Maron, and Bra looked on with wide eyes.

"-Broke a nail, and I even made you a sandwich! But what do I get?!" Bulma blinked as Vegeta was suddenly not in front of her. She turned around to see him eating the sub.

"Keep going I'm listening," said Vegeta sub half way to mouth.

"Ahhhhhh! No you're not!" shouted Bulma tugging on her hair.

"You're right I'm not," said Vegeta taking a big bit.

"Bra, your parents are weird," whispered Maron to Bra.

Bra sighed. "You haven't seen nothing yet."

***********  


Gohan turned his head and watched as Videl entered the house and hung up her coat.

"Gohan," she said with a smile. "What's for dinner?"

Gohan got up and pulled her into a hug.

"Gohan? What's the matter? Is something wrong?" asked Videl returning the hug.

"I'm so sorry Videl," whispered Gohan into her hair. "I'm so sorry."

"Gohan?" 

"You father Videl, he's dead."

Videl froze, her eyes grew larger, and her hold on Gohan tightened. "How did he die?" she asked.

"Fighting a new enemy. Vegeta got rid of the monster and his soldiers, but he didn't get there in time to save your father. I'm sorry."

Videl trembled and buried her face in Gohan's shirt, trying desperately to hold back her tears.

"Go ahead and cry Videl, it'll make you feel better," said Gohan stroking her hair.

"No," whispered Videl dabbing at her eyes. "He won't want me to cry. He won't want me to cry..." she whispered into his chest, nails digging almost painfully into his back. "I won't cry," she whispered.

Gohan held her tightly, once again cursing the fates. Why? Why can we ever live normal lives? Why can't we just grow old and watch our children grow up in peace. That's all I want, all I've ever wanted.

The telephone rang loudly in the silent room. Gohan hesitated to pick it up, but Videl pushed herself way and looked at him with strong blue eyes. "You'd better get that," she said rubbing her eye. 

Gohan gave her a squeeze on the shoulder and when over to pick up the phone.

"Son resistance, Gohan speaking."

Gohan's eyes grew wide as he listened to the phone.

"Gohan?" asked Videl going over and touching his arm.

"Yes, I understand. Thanks you," said Gohan hanging up the phone. 

"Who was that Gohan?" asked Videl.

"Videl get your coat on, we're going to the hospital."

"Why?" asked Videl.

"Pan's been hurt."

***********

Trunks walked down the white halls with a bunch of white roses, reading the room numbers as he went. He stopped and watched as a nurse ran out of one room, another nearly falling out after her.

"What?! What do you mean I have to stay for 24 hours?!" shouted an angry and familiar voice.

Trunks smiled to himself, he'd found his room. He walked towards the room and was stopped by one of the nurse that had run out.

"Stop sir, don't go in there! She's a mad woman. Wait until till we get some sleeping pills in her or something!"

Trunks laughed and pushed her aside. "Don't worry I'm use to this, she's my girlfriends," said Trunks walking into the room.

"How did a loud girl like her ever get a dream guy like that?" said one nurse.

Trunks blinded at the scene before him. Pan was standing on top of her bed breathing down steam on a frail old doctor. She was dressed into one of those white with blue poke-a-dots hospital gowns. Many tubes and wires were attached to her, hooked up to all kinds of machines. 

"You let me out of here right now!" growled Pan grabbing the poor doctor by the coat.

"Miss Son!" protested the doctor. "It's true that you're making a remarkable recovery, but you should really stay the night so we can be double sure."

"Double sure!" shouted Pan in the man's face. "I know my body better then any doctor and I feel just fine!" she screamed.

Trunks couldn't help but laugh at his fiery girlfriend. She made quite the picture standing on the bed, holding that little old man up by his coat, in that outfit.

Pan blinded and looked over at him. "Trunks!" she shouted dropping the doctor, who ran out of her reach. "Trunks, tell them to let me out of here," she demanded. "Or I'm going to break out!"

Trunks laughed again and turned to the doctor. "You can bring me the papers I'll sign for her."

"Are you sure," said the man staring at Pan. "I don't think she's completely aware of what she's doing."

"What did you say?!" growled Pan.

Trunks gave the doctor a push towards the door. "I'm sure doctor and if you don't want your hospital destroy I suggest you go get those forms."

The doctor all but ran out of the room, yelling for someone to bring a set of release forms. Trunks laughed low to him self again.

Pan plopped down on her bed and began trying to untangle her self for the wires and tubes. "One little bump on the head and they hook me up to every tube and wire they could find," she muttered 

"That wasn't a little bump Pan you had a concussion," said Trunks going over to her. "You're lucky to be okay."

"Shut up and help me out of these things!" snapped Pan holding up her arms covered in wires and tubes.

Trunks smiled and took one arm, carefully untaping a tube. "Jeez, Pan. Would you have really broken out of the hospital if I had come any later?"

"Damn right I would have. All those old men poking and prodding me. If I didn't escape this place I'd probably end up on 12 different drugs and have a hospital bill the size of a toilet paper roll."

Trunks finished freeing her, Pan jumped up and flexed her muscle. "Ah, good lets get out of here," she said. She turned around when Trunks didn't follow, to see him with a wide grin on his face. 

"I think I like those hospital gowns," he said with a wink.

"Eh?" Pan looked behind her to see the back of the gown was wide open. "Ah, Trunk you hentai!" she said grabbing the back of her gown.

"Hey you're the one that wanted to walk out of here like that," said Trunks. "At least wait for them to bring you your clothes."

"Alright," pouted Pan going back over and sitting down on the bed. 

"Oh yah, that reminds me," said Trunks digging in his pocket, he pulled out an orange square of cloth.

"My bandana!" cheered Pan getting up and hugging him. "Why do you have it?" she asked taking it. She started combing her hair with her fingers. 

"They dropped it on the way to the Emergency room, I didn't think you wanted to loose it." Trunks watched as Pan smoothed out her hair then tied the familiar orange bandana on top. He signed and put his hands back in his pocket, one hand closed around a small smooth box. Oh yah! Thought Trunks. He gulped. "Um, Pan?"

"Eh? What Trunks," said Pan flipping her long hair back.

Trunks when over to her and took her hand. "Um Pan...." On your knee stupid shouted a part of his mind. Trunks stared to get down on his knee when someone came charging into the room and knocked him right over on his face.

"Pan! Oh sweetly!"

"D-dad!" squeaked pan from within a bear hug. 

Videl soon followed, stepping on Trunks. "Oh Pan honey are you all right?" she asked going over to her daughter and husband.

"Mom!" smiled Pan. "I'm fine, really."

"That's good," said Videl petting her head. She turned and looked at Trunks still on the floor. "Trunks? What are you doing down there?"

"Why me?" muttered Trunks face pressed to the title floor, foot print on his head and back. He got up and tried to dust himself off.

"Trunks, I'm sorry. What were you about to say?" asked Pan with two-concerned parent hovering over her.

"Um...." said Trunks eyeing Gohan and Videl. "Nothing, I'll tell you another time."

***********

Vegeta's eyebrow twitched as the phone continued to ring madly on the hook. With a growl he fired a ki blast at it and destroyed it.

"Vegeta! You can't keep killing all the phone!" said Bulma going over to the smoldering remains of the phone.

"Then get them to stop ringing for two lousy second!" barked the saiyan. "If I'd know every stupid human on this planet would want to bug me I never would have saved it. I would have gladly died with them!" Vegeta groaned and flopped down on the couch, grabbing a pillow and hiding his head with it. 

Bulma sighed, she would have felt sorry for him, if it wasn't for the fact that she herself was being hounded just as the wife of the new savoir of the world. "I never realized just how much we needed Mister Satan." She walked over to her miserable husband and sat down next to him. He hand reached out to stroke his tail. "I never thought I'd ever agree with you that my kind could be so annoying." She watched as the muscle in his back slowly started to untense at her gentle touch. 

"Vegeta?"

"Hn?" grunted the saiyan. 

"Thank you," whispered Bulma.

The saiyan prince pushed the pillow away and looked up at her. He sat up and pulled her against his chest, fingers going up to stroke her hair. Bulma buried her face against his chest and her frame shook with ragged breaths, she was exhausted after what had happen. 

"I felt so lonely, I thought I was going to die by myself today," she muttered into his chest.

"Baka woman," whispered Vegeta leaning back against the couch. "Baka," he repeated leaning his face down to breathe in her scent. 

They stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other. 

"Do you think it's over?" asked Bulma. "I mean, could there be more of those ships out there? Do you thing they'll come back to earth?"

Vegeta sighed. "I don't know. I really don't know."

Bulma shivered against him and he tightened his hold on her. "Baka woman," said Vegeta again. "You know I'll never let them take you from me. You're mine and if I have to put up and protect this mud ball of a planet to keep you with me I will."

Bulma looked up at him with misty eyes. "Do you mean that?" she asked.

"Yes," he reached down and took hold of her chin bring her face up. Bulma closed her eyes and leaned up. Vegeta froze as he heard several soft noises.

Bulma keeps leaning forward and fell over as Vegeta suddenly got up.

"Hey?!" she said pushing herself back up.

Vegeta's eyes darted around. He walked over to one of the air vents on the wall and ripped it off to reveal a man stuffed in there with camera.

"Yikes!" said the man trying to retreat. Vegeta grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out. "What the fuck are you doing in my house!" roared the prince in his face.

Bulma stared on with wide eyes. 

Vegeta seemed to hear something else, his eyes scanned around the ceiling. "Woman, I think the house is infested with these," he said holding the cameraman off the ground. 

Bulma groaned and rubbed her forehand. "You get rid of him and I'll go put all of Capsule Corps' security systems on." She got up and walked around a corner. Her head popped back around. "And, don't kill him Vegeta."

The cameraman paled.

Vegeta cursed under his breath as he dragged the man to the front door. He opened it and booted him out with a drop kick right into several other reporters camped out on his front porch. Vegeta dusted off his hands and walked back inside.

He smirked as he heard an electric buzzing sound in the air vents followed by a scream. Vegeta chuckled to himself. His mate maybe weak, but she could take care of herself. He laughed harder as there was another buzz followed by an even louder scream.


	4. Chapter 3: A Super Super Star

****

War of Worlds 

Chapter Three: A Super Super Star 

A month had passed since earth was invaded. The earthlings mourned for the millions that had died and the loss of their great champion, Mister Satan. However, the people of earth were moving on. They were starting to rebuild damages caused by the shock wave from the explosions and they had selected a new man to be their world Champion. Now if only that man was more willing to fill the roll. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bulma stared at the newspaper in front of her. Spread all along the kitchen table was tabloids, magazines, posters, etc. The sales on pink shirts with the words BADMAN written on the back had sky rocketed. Who would have thought pink would turn into such a manly color? 

Bulma sighed and put down the newspaper. The stuff on the table was only a small portion of the media on her husband and family. Hundred of articles were about herself and her children. Everyone wanted to run tests on Vegeta, Trunks, and Bra. Some crazy science person had even showed up at Trunks office, tried to strap him down on his desk, and run tests on the Capsule Corps President. Trunks came running out of his office, clothes all roughed up and a nurse in a short shirt chasing after him with a needle. 

Bulma for the most part had tried to keep her self out of the papers; Bra on the other hand was thriving in it. She'd been a rising star before the invasion, and now she was on top. Her songs broke the records and she'd gotten tons of movie roles offered to her; Bra turned them all down, no longer interested in making movies. The blue haired demi-Saiya-jin had gone back to doing a few photo-shots just for the fun of it. She kind of missed posing for the camera and trying on the latest fashions. 

"Model, actress, singer," said Bulma, shaking her head. "What's next? It's too bad Trunks isn't so daring. He could be making a huge profit if he started appearing in Capsule Corps ads." 

She shook her head and looked at the clock. "Might as well go back to work on my projects. I wonder when Vegeta will come back…?" Bulma sighed as she refilled her coffee mug and got up to go to her lab. After a week of being hounded by unwanted fans and news media, the Prince of Saiya-jins had taken the easy way out and disappeared on another one of his long training secessions. He was so popular now that he'd even been found once out in the middle of nowhere. Bulma knew this because she'd turned on the TV one day to see him doing a slow kata. Once he'd realized he'd been found he'd flown off. 

"At this rate I'll never see him again," sighed Bulma, lifting the mug up to her lips. "I'd better call Juuhachi to help me with the project. I have a feeling we're going to need it soon." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Out in space, a large battle ship glided through the empty black. 

"Admiral Jaki," saluted one of the crewmembers. 

"Yes?" said an averaged-sized man. He had bright orange hair blown back like a hedgehog; the tip of his long mane almost touched the floor. His eyes were a light sky blue without any pupils and his ears were long and elfish. His features were strong and handsome, with two black checks across each cheek. He was slender, but still muscular. He wore a black cap over his blue military uniform. 

"Admiral, we will soon be with in viewing range of planet 225-963-007. What are your orders?" 

"Hmm...." hummed the admiral, tapping his chin. "Tenma was defeated by these seemingly weak creatures. There must be a few on that planet that have a much higher power levels. I need more data. Find out just how Tenma and his crew were defeated and report back to me." 

"Yes admiral," the crewman saluted and went to give out orders. 

"This had better be worth it," whispered the alien. "I will not have my time wasted on weaklings when I could be fighting rebel scum." 

"Planet 225-963-007 now in range." 

"On screen," said Jaki. 

The giant screen in front of the orange haired alien blinked on to revel a peaceful blue and green planet floating in space. 

"We're picking up readings from the surface," said one crewman. "There are multiple locations on the planet's surface that suggest a powerful plasma cannon was fired at it, perhaps one of ours." 

"Ahh, Tenma you fool. You let them now you were coming. You always were one to just barge into a fight. Well know thy enemy and now thy self they say. I will not be taken by surprise by these pathetic creatures." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bra walked downstairs in a black leather, form-fitting long tailed coat. She wore long black leather boots, and a crimson backless, sleeveless shirt held up by the tie around her neck. And, to complete the outfit, tight red stretch pants. 

"Mom!" she called, grabbing her keys. "I'm heading over to the Fashion Frenzy building for my photo shoot!" She looked around for her mother. "Mom?!" she called again. 

"In here!" came Bulma's muffled voice from her lab. Bra sighed, she should have checked there first-her mother was in there just about every day. Bra walked into the lab and watched her mother at work. She was more then a little surprised to see Juuhachi standing in the middle of a bunch of scanners without any clothes on. The scans finished and Bulma handed Juuhachi a white lab coat to put on. 

"Do you think that's enough data?" asked the android. 

"It's enough to get started on with the basic blue print." She turned and looked over her shoulder at Bra. "Oh, hi honey. Have fun at the photo shoot." 

"What are you two up to?" asked Bra. She wasn't stupid, she knew almost as much about computers as her mother. Although, Trunks and her mother were still better then she'd ever be at designing and creating new inventions. 

"Oh, just working on a little pet project," said Bulma. "I don't know how it'll all come out so you'll have to wait for me to finish." 

"Oh, okay," said Bra. "I'm going now." 

"Bye," called Bulma as Bra left the room. 

"Boy, I wonder what mom could possible be building with Juuhachi, of all people. Strange," she said, leaving Capsule Corps and walking to her car. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

"Admiral." 

Jaki turned around to see the same crewman from earlier. 

"Admiral, we have that data you requested." 

"Good, show me." 

The crewman walked over to a computer station and began pressing buttons. The overhead screen began to display images. 

"This," said the crewman "is the Saiya-jin Prince, Vegeta. He is responsible for killing Tenma." 

"I see," said Jaki. "No wonder, he was defeated if he was fighting a Saiya-jin." Jaki frowned. "I don't like this, Saiya-jins are suppose to be extinct. How did this one survive the destruction of his home world? Saiya-jins supposedly have unlimited potential to become stronger. Do you have any data on just how powerful this Saiya-jin Prince is?" 

"No sir, we don't know just how strong he is, but we do know he is a top fighter. He's reached the super Saiya-jin level." The screen changed to show footage of Vegeta's fight with the 12 soldiers, this transformation to super Saiya-jin, the destruction of Tenma's ship, and Tenma's defeat at the hands of the Saiya-jin. The frown on Jaki's face got bigger. 

"We can not even begin to estimate this Saiya-jin's power level. There is no data about Super Saiya-jins in our database." 

"I do not think I can defeat his man in a fair fight," said Jaki. 

"Surely, admiral you are-" 

Jaki cut him off in mid speech. "No, Saiya-jins are not a race to be taken lightly. If I am to fight him, I must have an advantage over him-one that would cripple him in a fight. What other data do you have?" 

"We have records and news reports from the natives, marriage and family information, past fights in a tournament called-" 

"Tell me the family information," said Jaki, cutting him off once again. 

"Yes, Admiral," said the crewman, bringing up the data. 

"This is his mate," the screen showed a picture of Bulma. "Bulma Briefs, owner of a massive business called Capsule Corps; retired. We are unsure of her age; according to our information she should be in her 60s, but her physical appearances does not fit that of a 60 year-old human. We are looking into the matter, but it would appear that even her own species doesn't know why she appears so youthful." 

The picture changed to one of Trunks. "This is Vegeta and Bulma's first born offspring, a hybrid by the name of Trunks. He is the current President of the Capsule Corporation. Believed to be extremely intelligent by human standers. He is also a fighter, top power level is unknown." 

The picture was replaced with one of Bra. "This is Bra, their second and last offspring to date. She seems to be an entertainer of sorts. Her power level is also unknown." 

"Stop," said Jaki, getting up and looking at the picture of Bra. "Perfect. If you set a trap, always make sure you have the right bait." Jaki threw back his head and laughed. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bra tossed the keys to the valley-parking boy and winked at him. "Be a sweetie for me, would you." 

"S-sure thing, Miss Briefs," said the boy, with hearts in his eye. 

Bra giggled to herself as she walked into the building. She really shouldn't play with them like that, but she couldn't help it, it was her nature to be flirty. 

Her manager greeted her. "Bra, sweetie, darling!" said the man, walking up to her. "Where have you been, you're never on time." 

"I know," grinned Bra. "But you forgive me, right?" 

"I'll forgive you when you get that cute butt out of those clothes and into a swim suit. Come on, come on, come on," he said, shooing her towards a dressing room. 

Bra got dressed in a red bikini and three-inch high heels. She was ushered outside where a giant sandbox was made to look like the beach. 

"What's wrong? Why don't we just go to a real beach?" asked Bra, pulling off her jacket. 

"No time for questions!" said her manager. "Those pictures don't take themselves." 

Bra sighed, was she really that late? Should have worn a watch she told herself. 

Bra got in front of the photographers and did as they said. She almost felt like a little girl again, they always wanted her to pretend she was something else. 

"Good, yes! Now think sexy! You're a cat, purr for me baby!" 

Bra got down on all fours and purred. She arched her back like a cat, then held up one paw in a claw. 

"Marvelous! Now think tropical, water, think mermaid. Be the mermaid, Bra!" 

Bra giggled as she got up on her knee and fisted her fingers in her hair, making it messy. She slid on her stomach and raised her legs up behind, twitching them up and down. 

"Yes, baby. You are sooo sexy! Now thinks strong! Powerful! Bare your teeth, snarl, be a wild thing!" The photographers were snapping picture like crazy. 

Bra paused and stopped listening to the cameraman. She jerked her head to the side and looked up into the sky. "What the-…an unfamiliar power? No, more then one." 

"Bra darling!" shouted her manager, trying to get her attention back to the cameras, but failing. 

Bra got up and kept looking in the direction of the incoming powers, completely tuning out everyone else. 

Who are they? What do they want? They're coming in this direction. Bra strained her eyes and caught a small dot out in the distance. She watched as it got bigger and a hover vehicle appeared. 

"What?! Hey you! You can't come here! This is private property!" shouted Bra's manager waving his hands wildly in the air. "Security! Security!" he shouted running into the building. The photographers continued to take pictures. 

Bra narrowed her eyes as the vehicle landed and several soldiers jumped out to surround her. She frowned and watched as a man with long orange hair got out and stood before her. 

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Bra in a calm voice. 

The man ran an eye up and down her scantily clad form. "I am Jaki, an Admiral in Lord Lucifer's army. I require your assistance in an important assignment I have been given, Miss Bra Briefs." 

"What kind of assignment." said Bra, her eyes turning cold. 

"Oh, nothing much," said Jaki, circling around her. "You know, the usual world conquest, that sort of thing." 

"I see," said Bra. "You won't have anything to do with that other fellow that showed up a month ago?" 

"Ah, you're smart as well as beautiful," Jaki smiled. "Yes, I am here to defeat your father, the man who bested Tenma." 

"Then do tell me why you're with me and not talking to my papa?" asked Bra. 

"Very simple, little girl, I'm going to use you to get to your papa." The soldiers around Bra lifted their weapons and pointed them at her. "Now do come along like a good girl." 

Bra scowled at them. Her manager ran out with half a dozen guards on his heels. 

"Don't worry, Bra, baby, the Calvary's here!" he shouted. 

"Idiot!" shouted Bra. "Don't come any closer!" 

It was too late as the soldiers turned their weapons on them and fired. One guard went down in a bloody mess before the soldiers found a raging blue haired demi-Saiya-jin on them. Bra kicked high, spiking one soldier in the face with her heel. She let out a loud yell and elbowed the next one in the ribs. He doubled over and Bra rolled over his back, hooking her arms around his. She hoisted him off the ground and swung him into the next soldier down the line. By that time the other soldiers were aware that their victim had become their attacker. They turned their attentions back to Bra. They fired at her, but Bra jumped out of the way easily. She landed on one unfortunate soldier, knocking him out. Bra spun in a tornado kick, disarming two soldiers. She caught one of the flying rifles and hooked the strap around one disarmed soldier's neck. With a twist and a jump behind the soldier, his neck snapped with a loud crack. She caught the shoulders of the other disarmed soldier and swung her legs up to kick the face of another soldier moving in for a shot. The disarmed soldier let out several frightened yips as Bra locked hands with him and seemed to dance with the soldier, swinging him to slam into one of his fellow soldiers, then using him as a shield as another fired a blast at her. Bra pushed the shot soldier away right into the last three soldiers. They fell and lifted up their guns to fire at her. 

"Barbarians," said Bra, blurring out of the line of fire, too fast to be seen. She shot a thin ki blast to their side and sliced their weapons clean in half. "A true fight is best fought with the most deadliest of weapons-the body." As Bra said that, she gathered ki in her hand, bathing her body in a light blue light. 

"Comet Tail!" shouted Bra, as a long ribbon of ki formed in her hand. She turned sharply and the ki sliced through two of the three remaining soldiers, killing them. The last one got up nervously and ran at her, punching out with his fist. Bra ducked and dodged. She spun with her back to the soldier, then flipped back into a handstand. Her long legs wrapped around the soldier's neck and snapped his head to the side. She released the soldier and flipped back up to her feet as he fell to the ground. 

Bra ran a hand through her long blue hair. "I don't like to kill, but I will defend myself." 

The alien with bright orange hair clapped his hands. "I was not expecting you to be so skilled a fighter. That is what I get for underestimating someone with Saiya-jin's blood in their veins." Jaki undid the clasp of his cape and let it slide to the ground. He then pulled open his military top and slipped it off to join his cap on the ground. 

Bra lifted an eyebrow at him. "I was hoping you'd go away. My manager always yells at me when he finds bruises on my skin." 

"Well then, I'll accept your surrender," said Jaki, crouching down. 

"I don't give up so easily," said Bra, crouching down as well. 

"I thought you might say some thing like that." mused Jaki. He roared and a red aura surrounded him, tossing his long hair behind him. Bra was blown back by the alien's sudden rise in power. 

"What power," Bra said, shielding her eyes from flying dirt and the alien's intense glow. 

Jaki roared again and charged. He raised his arm and cloths-lined Bra as he ran past. Bra landed hard on her back and rolled on to her feet. Jaki charged up several ki balls in his hand and hurled them at Bra. The demi-Saiya-jin jumped and dodged out of their way. It almost looked like she teleported, her speed was so great. Bra jumped up high in the air to avoid two ki balls, and another was aimed at her new position. Bra slapped the blast away. 

"Nice, but you're open," said a voice behind her. 

Bra gasped and looked over her shoulder to see Jaki. He interlocked his fingers and hammered her down to the ground. Bra groaned and coughed up some blood; she done one major belly flop on hard ground. She managed to recover enough to roll out of the way as Jaki aimed several more ki blasts at her. Bra continued to roll, till she came to the sandbox. She flipped up to her feet and landed in the sand. 

"Come on!" she challenged. 

As Jaki flew down at her, Bra smiled. She challenged a quick burst of ki into her feet and the sand around her flew up in a mini sandstorm. 

Jaki drew back with a cry as the gritty stuff got in his eyes. Bra, with her eyes closed, leapt at him and nailed him right under the jaw, snapping his head back. She then spun in three tornado kicks, each one landing a blow on his face. She was going to do another tornado kick when Jaki reached up and caught her foot. 

"What a naughty girl you are," said Jaki, wiping the last of the sand from his eyes. He gripped her leg and swung her in a circle. Bra grunted as he slammed into the fake beach scene and ripped right through it. She hit a camera light, and was released to slam full force into the side of the building. She broke through the wall and lay a long time on the floor, biting her teeth together in pain. 

"Do you give up yet?" asked Jaki, crossing his arms. "Admit it, as you are you don't have the power to defeat me." 

Bra laughed, shocking everyone present. She slowly got up and dusted herself off, still laughing low to herself. "You're very right. As I stand now, I can't defeat you." 

Jaki smiled. "Then you're giving up?" 

"No," said Bra, shaking the dust out of her long blue hair. "I never said any thing about giving up. I'm going to kill, you know." 

Jaki uncrossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her. "Just how do you plan on doing that?" 

Bra smirked just like her father. "Simple, I'll just power up." 

"What?!" said Jaki. 

Bra smirked wider then frowned. The debris around her began to shake, then lifted off the ground. A wind kicked up, created by her ki and blew back Jaki's long hair. Bra growled low in her throat as her eyes slowly become a solid aqua blue. 

"Impossible!" shouted Jaki as Bra's hair went from soft and wavy to thick and spiky. Her hair changed from blue to brilliant gold, almost too bright to look at. The light faded and Bra's hair turned blond, a golden aura flared around her. 

"No, you can't be a super Saiya-jin! That's impossible! There's only suppose to be one!" screamed Jaki, taking a step back. 

"Many legends," Bra said in a powerful voice, "are based off of real stories, however…" she added, snapping her blue eyes up to lock gazes with Jaki. "The facts can often be distorted." 

In a blur Bra was gone. She reappeared behind Jaki and slammed her fist into his back, throwing him forward. She reappeared in front of the alien and hit him in the opposite direction. Bra repeated that several times, going faster and faster, till it appeared that there was more then one of her hitting Jaki around (in a happy circle! ^_^; Sorry. I'll stop now. Love, Trillion3). 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Somewhere in a desert landscape, Vegeta was sparring with an invisible foe. He froze dead in his tracks as he fell a familiar ki rise to incredible power-it could only be a super Saiya-jin's. 

"Bra," said Vegeta, snapping his gaze in the direction of the ki. He ran and cursed before jumping into the air. 

They were back. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bra spun Jaki by his arms and launched him into the air. She flew up and reappeared before him, twirling into a kick and sending him crashing to the ground. Jaki hit hard, tearing up a long trench in the ground. 

Jaki growled and wiped the blood off his chin. His hand went down to his belt where he pressed a button. "Tracker lock now!" he yelled. 

A beam of light shot down from the sky and landed right on Bra. 

"What the?" said Bra, touching it. She drew back with a yip as it shocked her, smoke wavering up from the place she'd touched. 

"What now, demi-Saiya-jin?" grinned Jaki standing up. "I have you trapped." 

Bra growled, barring her teeth at him. She levitated up a bit, a wicked grin on her face. "I've always heard the phase 'like father like son', but I think I take after my dad more then my brother does." As she said that, a ball of ki formed in her hand. 

"What are you up to? If you release that in there it will only bounce around and hit you." 

"Or your ship," grinned Bra. 

Jaki's eyes widened and Bra snapped her hand straight up and pointed her open palm up straight into the sky. 

"Solar Burn!" she shouted as ki leapt from her hand and flew straight up into the sky. 

"No! Shields!" shouted Jaki, pressing the button. 

There was a loud explosion and the sky lit up. 

"I don't believe it," screamed Jaki. He turned angry eyes to the now free Bra. "I'll make you pay for that!" he roared and charged at her. Both locked in a fistfight too fast to see. 

Bra suddenly flipped up, slamming both feet into Jaki's jaw. She flipped back on her feet and looked over her shoulder. 

"Hi daddy!" she called, waving. 

Everyone turned to see Vegeta leaning against the building, not looking concerned at all. 

Jaki though that since she wasn't looking at him he could get in a good hit before she noticed. As he ran forward, he realized that was a bad thing to do as the demi-Saiya-jin girl lifted up a hand right in his face. 

"Final Flash!" 

Jaki was caught head on and was completely vaporized by the attack. 

"Took your time," said Vegeta. "You're not getting soft, are you, Bra?" 

The girl shook her head. "No, papa. I was just dragging it out." 

Bra's manager was staring with open mouth at the two. They were talking as if what just happened was nothing big! Next to Bra's manager the photographers continued to take pictures like mad. 

Vegeta frowned and looked up into the sky. "Did you get the whole thing?" 

Bra looked up as well. "I'm not sure. I doubt any one could have survived that, but there might still be a section of the ship up there." 

"Probably several sections. I think you broke it into pieces," said Vegeta. "Come on, we'd better get home and tell your mother what happened. She'll kill us or do something stupid if she hears it from someone else first." 

Bra nodded and powered down. Her hair returned to its blue color, her eyes darkened, and the pupils returned. She calmly walked over and picked up her coat from the ground. She dusted it off before putting it on. 

"My car it down in the parking lot. Do you want to drive or fly?" 

"Fly," said Vegeta. 

"Okay, just give me a minute to go get it," Bra flew up and over to the parking lot. 

The photographers continued to take pictures of Vegeta. The Saiya-jin prince scowled at them. 

Bra came back, tossing a capsule in one hand. "Okay." She landed and walked up to her manager. "Sorry boss, I've got to go. You can send me a bill for the damages." 

Her manager numbly nodded his head. 

"Bye!" called Bra, waving a hand before the two jumped up into the air. 

Once they were gone Bra's manager sank to his knees. "Bra's a super Saiya-jin.... I'm going to be rich!" shouted the man, jumping up. "Where's a phone?! Where's a phone?!" he shouted, running into the building. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bulma and Juuhachi were taking a coffee break from their project. 

"Juuhachi, do you think your brother would mind helping us with this?" 

"Juunana?" said Juuhachi, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure. I'll ask him next time I see him." 

"You two are twins, did Gero use the same design for you both? I heard that Juunana was more powerful then you." 

Juuhachi nodded. "Yes, he has more power then me. He probably does have some different components in him. He could probably tell you more then I could about Gero's android designs. He's more advanced in power, but I have features he doesn't have as well." 

"Hmmm," said Bulma, rubbing her chin. "It'd be great if I could get a bio scan of him as well. Does he know about both his organic and mechanical parts like you?" 

"Yes," said the blond. "We were both programmed to be able to repair and maintain our bodies if need be." 

"Hmm," said Bulma, taking a gulp of her coffee. 

Juuhachi snapped her head to the side and stood up. 

"What?!" asked Bulma, looking in the same direction. 

"A fight, I don't recognize one of the powers." 

"Who's the one you do recognize?" asked Bulma. 

"Bra," asked Juuhachi. 

"What?!" shouted Bulma, jumping up. "My Bra! We've got to go help her!" 

Juuhachi stuck out a hand and held her back. "There's another power moving towards the fight." 

"Another enemy?!" asked Bulma. 

"No, it's Vegeta." She smirked and sat back down. "I guess we have nothing to worry about then." 

"What?!" shouted Bulma. "I'm not going to just sit here and wait!" barked the woman. 

"Calm down," said Juuhachi. "From the readings I'm getting Bra is much stronger then her opponent, plus Vegeta's there. If you went off to go help them, they'd be done before you got halfway there." 

Bulma frowned in frustration and sat down. "I hate waiting," she muttered. 

Several minutes passed and Juuhachi's eyebrow twitched. "It's over," she said. "They're coming this way now." 

Bulma sighed in relief. 

Juuhachi looked up at the sky. "They destroyed a ship in space. I can still read pieces of it floating in orbit." 

"Really?" said Bulma looking up. "You mean some of it is intact?" 

Juuhachi nodded. "Some of it, I doubt it'll ever work as a ship again though." 

"Hmmm," said Bulma for the fourth time, rubbing her chin. She snapped her gaze down as Vegeta and Bra landed in front of them. 

"Welcome home, Honey. Did you miss me?" said Bulma, winking at Vegeta. 

The Saiya-jin snorted. "They're back." 

Bulma frowned. "I noticed. This isn't good. If they sent two then they'll probably send another." 

"And, another, and another, and another after that," said Vegeta. "Whoever they are, they must have lots of resources to send ships to earth. This planet is too far away from other intelligent life to be worth two battle ships." 

"Well, don't worry I'm working on it," said Bulma, leaning back in her chair. 

"What do you mean by that?" said Vegeta, looking at his mate. 

"Ever since the day the first ship showed up I've been thinking about how easy it's been for aliens to land on Earth. I mean, first Piccolo, then Goku, Raditz, you and Nappa, and even Freeza all just picked a spot and landed. We couldn't do anything till after they were here." 

"And just how do you plan on stopping them from landing on Earth?" asked Vegeta, crossing his arms. 

"Simple, I'm designing a barrier." 

"Barrier?" said Bra. "What kind of barrier?" 

"A solar one. I haven't finished designing it yet, let alone tested it, but I'm trying to create a system of satellites that would orbit the earth on the same orbit the moon takes. Two more powerful satellites would remain stationed at the earth's axis, the poles to form a complete barrier up-link around the whole planet. The problem is I'd have to design a shield big enough and strong enough to stop a blast from a battle ship's cannon. But with Gero's technology and some help from Juuhachi I should be able to think of something." 

Vegeta lifted an eyebrow slightly amused. "And, just what will you do to keep them out before you construct your barrier?" 

"I've got you for that," winked Bulma. 

Vegeta sighed and shook his head. "I have a feeling this could go on for a long time." 

Bulma nodded. "Even if we can keep them out, it doesn't mean they'll stop attacking Earth. I have a bad feeling that whatever is behind this has more power and resources then all of Earth combined." 

"Maybe in resources they do, but power," said the Saiya-jin, blazing to super Saiya-jin. "We might just have them beat there," he said, grinning at her. 

Bulma smirked and admired her husband as a blond. 

Vegeta powered down. "It might be a good idea to inform the others of what's going on. If they attacked Bra they may know about the other demi-Saiya-jins. They should all start preparing for another battle." 

Bulma nodded. "I've been thinking of going back to work as more then a inventor. That way you can train more with Trunks." 

Vegeta looked at her with shock. He quickly fixed his face back into a neutral look. "You're very concerned about this, aren't you?" 

Bulma nodded. "This enemy isn't like the others. We're not dealing with some powerful maniac. This Enemy is probably much bigger then earth, we have to get ourselves ready before they realize us as a potential threat." 

"You've been thinking about this before the second ship, haven't you?" 

Bulma nodded. "I'm not going to let them take me by surprise again." 

Juuhachi got up. "I'm going home," she said, pulling on her coat. "I'll see if I can convince my brother to help us, but I can't promise anything," she said before turning and leaving. 

"Help?" said Vegeta, looking at his mate. "Just what was she helping you with? For some reason I don't think it was that barrier you were talking about." 

Bulma smiled secretly. "Oh, just a little pet project," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. 

"You're hiding something from me, woman," said Vegeta, crossing his arms. 

Bulma smiled. "I'm going to show those aliens they picked the wrong planet to mess with. They picked the wrong people to mess with," said Bulma, getting up. 

Vegeta smirked. "Why do I get the feeling you're not referring to me and the kids when you say that?" 

Bulma grinned back. "Maybe because I'm not." She turned and walked back into her lab. 

Vegeta sighed and shock his head again. "That woman thinks she can take on any thing." 

"Reminds me of someone else I know," said Bra, smiling. 

Vegeta snorted. "I didn't ask for your opinion, brat." 

Bra smiled wider and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "I'll inform the others." With that said she skipped away. 

Vegeta watched her go and wiped his cheek. He glanced up into the sky were small pieces of the ship could be seen streaking down the sky as meteors. 

"This isn't good," he whispered. "Kakarot.... this is your job, not mine," he growled before turning and heading towards the gravity room. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

"Lord Lucifer," said a female voice. A woman with dark green hair knelt down before the shadowy figure on a large thrown. 

"What is it, Kijo?" asked Lucifer, sipping a glass of blood red liquid. 

"My Lord," said the woman in a quiet voice. "Jaki is dead." 

"His ship?" asked Lucifer. 

"Destroyed," said the woman. 

Lucifer growled and flung his drink on the floor with a curse. "Two ships destroyed by a back water planet," he snarled. "That doesn't add up. There has to be someone there with a high power level." He calmed down and leaned back in his chair. "Kijo, send another ship." 

"My Lord?" said Kijo snapping her head up. 

"I want this one to gather as much information as possible before attacking. I want to know just who it is causing me so much trouble." 

"Yes, sir," said Kijo, bowing her head. 

* * * * * * * * * * * Name meanings.   
Jaki- Japanese word meaning Devil/ imp  
Kijo- Japanese word meaning demoness 


	5. Chapter 4: One Person's Junk is Another'...

War of Worlds 

Chapter4: One Person's Junk is Another's Treasure 

The humanoid creature strapped to the table thrashed, screamed, and begged in an unknown language as the being in white continued to slice open its skin, peel it back, and pin it in place until the poor creature's chest cavity was completely open. 

"Does it hurt?" asked the operator, almost tenderly stroking the red feathers that topped the weeping being's head. It turned its head toward the being in white and begged it again to stop in its strange language. 

"You should feel honored," he said, moving back to the open chest. "I'm Doctor Mono, the greatest bio scientist in all the galaxy. You, my frightened little guinea pig, are the first of your kind to be so-" he reached into the being's inside and cut off one of its organs, watching as the creature thrashed, eyes wide in unbelievable pain and suffering. "Deeply studied," grinned the doctor. 

Several more slices and some removal of organs that wouldn't lead to an immediate death, and the red haired creature finally passed out. The doctor frowned down at the creature's pale face. He hated it when they fainted in the middle of an operation. Screams of pain and terror were music to his ears; he delighted in dissecting his subjects alive. 

"Doctor Mono," said a nurse, bowing to him. "You have an important call." 

The doctor frowned and didn't look at her, too busy studying his still alive subject. "Tell whoever it is to call back another time. I'm busy." 

"Doctor, the message is from Lady Kijo," said the nurse. 

The doctor stopped in the middle of opening up one of the creature's three hearts and looked over his shoulder at the nurse. "Very well. Keep the blood circulating in this subject, I don't want it dying just yet." 

"And if it wakes up, do you want us to give it tranquilizer?" 

"Of course not!" barked the doctor. "That might slow down the bodies natural function, just leave it to scream," the doctor smiled, walking out of the operating room. 

Still wearing his bloody gown and gloves, the doctor pressed a flat button on a screen and a beautiful woman with dark green hair appeared. 

"Good evening doctor, did I interrupt you in the middle of your work?" asked the woman politely. 

"Yes, you did. This had better be important, Lady Kijo. It took me almost a year to get a hold of a live Saibird." 

Kijo folded her hands and smiled. "Oh, I'm sure once I tell you what we've found on a little planet in the middle of nowhere you'll be begging us to let you go." 

"Huh, I doubt it," said the doctor, frowning. 

"Not interested?" said Kijo, faking a hurt expression. "Well, I can always send another doctor to go study the Saiya-jins. Good day, doctor," said Kijo leaning forward to press the button that would end communication. 

"Wait!" shouted Mono. "Did you say Saiya-jin? Are you telling me you've found a living, breathing Saiya-jin?!" shouted the doctor, moving closer to the screen. "Where?!" 

Kijo smiled and leaned back in her chair. "I thought you'd be interested," she purred. 

"Don't toy with me, Kijo! Tell me where I can find it! I've been waiting my whole life to study one! The most perfect fighting race ever created, do you know what kind of bio weapons I could create with one?! The kinds of technology I could design?!" 

"So," said Kijo, looking at her nails. "I guess that means you'll take the job?" 

"Yes!" shouted the doctor. 

"Good," grinned Kijo. The screen split in half and showed a picture of earth. "On this planet is at least one full blood Saiya-jin, the Saiya-jin prince, Vegeta." 

"A member of the royal bloodline," breathed Mono in awe. "What I won't give for him." 

"You may have him one day, but your orders so far are not to touch him." Kijo said more sharply. "Lucifer knows a good opportunity when he sees one. He's hoping to recruit the Saiya-jin prince into his army." 

"Then what reason do I have to go!" Dr. Mono shouted. "If I can't dissect the Saiya-jin, how will I learn its secrets?!" 

"Calm down good doctor," said Kijo. The picture of earth was replaced with one of Vegeta, then one of Trunks and Bra. "These two, dear doctor, are demi-Saiya-jins; hybrids. We will allow you to do whatever you like to any demi-Saiya-jins you find on the planet Earth." 

"And if the pureblooded Saiya-jin doesn't except Lord Lucifer's proposal?" asked Dr. Mono eagerly. 

"Then you may do what you please with him as well," said Kijo. 

Dr. Mono smiled cruel. "Good, send me all the information you have. I'll be leaving at once." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Pan groaned and pulled the covers off her head. She rubbed an eye and glanced at the black phone on her desk ringing its receiver off. She glanced at her alarm clock; it was 9:00, too early to get up when it was summer vacation. With a grunt she reached over and picked up the phone. 

"Hello," she said, trying not to sound like she had just woken up, but failing miserably. 

"Pan, it's me, Marron. I need your help right away!" Marron shouted into the phone. 

Now Pan was awake. "Why? What's wrong Marron?" asked Pan, in concern. 

"Just come over to my family's dojo, please!" said Marron. 

"I'll be right over," Pan assured her, hanging up the phone and jumping out of bed to put her clothes on in a blur. She ran downstairs to see her parents sitting in front of the TV, watching the news. 

"Pan, where's the fire?" Gohan laughed as his daughter tried to force her feet into her shoes, which didn't seem to want to cooperate. 

"I've got to go, Papa, Marron needs me!" Pan shouted, finishing forcing her shoes into submission. She ran down the step and jumped into the air, the front door still open and swinging on its hinges. 

"She sure was in a hurry," said Videl, going over to close the door. 

"Sure was. I wonder what she's doing?" 

As Pan flew she pictured all kinds of terrible things that might have happened to her friend. What if the alien invaders had gone after Marron?! It wasn't out of the question-Marron was probably the strongest human alive to date. Uub didn't count. He may have been reborn a human but he still had a bit of demon in him, especially after joining with Buu. They'd gone after Bra to get to Vegeta, were they trying to lure Goten and Trunks out with Marron as bait?! Goten would sure be pissed to find the blond kidnapped. What if they were going to do some kind of terrible and freakish experiments on her! Oh, poor Marron! 

Pan flew faster and soon found the neat and tidy Martial Arts school. The building was designed as a traditional Japanese building, with rice paper screens, curved tile roof, and wooden dojo sign out front. Krillin, being a more devoted Martial Artist then most of the other human Z fighters, had decided to teach his style of fighting in his later years. His school was already well known in the fighting world. The ex-monk still was a damn good fighter and it didn't look like he'd ever quit fighting. Marron taught at the dojo as well. She'd earned her black belt when she was 18. According to Krillin's school, you couldn't become a black belt until your 18th birthday, because Martial Arts was a training of both the body and mind and some things require time and patience that only an adult has. Of course, Marron easily got her belt on the very same day she turned 18. 

"Marron!" shouted Pan, yanking opened the door and barging in. 

The blond girl looked at Pan with wide eyes. She'd been mediating when Pan had shouted her arrival. 

Pan's head snapped back and forth looking for Marron's attacker, but seeing none. In fact, the girl looked just fine. There was no sign that a struggle had even taken place to begin with. 

"Wow, you're fast," said Marron, getting up. "Pan, this is a karate dojo, take your shoes off." 

"W-wait," stammered Pan in confusion. "Where the bad guys?" 

Marron stared hard at Pan then broke out laughing. "Oh, my god! You thought I was being attacked?! That's funny!" 

"No it's not!" shouted Pan. "And, here I came to help you and this is the thanks I get," pouted Pan, flopping down to tug at her shoes. She hadn't even tied the laces. 

Marron managed to control her giggling. "Sorry, you should know I can take care of myself, anyone stupid enough to mess with me must have a death wish." 

"I don't know, I beat you, didn't I," said Pan, narrowing her eyes at Marron. 

"That was a couple years ago, I'm stronger now," said Marron. 

"So am I," said Pan in a challenging voice. 

Marron grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Are those fighting words I hear?" 

"Maybe they are," grinned Pan. 

"Good! Because I need a good fighter," she went over and tossed Pan a wooden bow. "I need you to enter a Martial Art's tournament with me." 

"What?!" shouted Pan, falling on her face. First that strange phone call, now this, had she lost the ability to understand one of her good friends? 

Marron giggled again. "That's why I called you," she said, picking up a pair of nun chucks. "You see, Pan, I've been planning to take a team to this Martial Arts tournament in Tokyo for over half a year now-It starts in three days. But, my team bailed on me, either sick or too busy with the recent disaster from those aliens. I don't have even one person now. Since you know how to use the bow, I thought I'd ask you to fill in and do a bow kata at the tournament." 

"Oh, why didn't you say so sooner," said Pan, a little annoyed. "Just how many people do you need for your team?" 

"Too many, I need a team of five to go, one person for each weapon: the bow, Caiman, shi, sword, chucks, and Tamah. I can do the chucks, but I need you to do the bow, I don't know who I'm going to ask to do the others." 

"Trunks!" Pan shouted, nearly knocking the blonde over. "Ask Trunks to do the sword, he knows how to use one!" 

"Hey! You're right! I didn't think of that. But, what about the other two weapons?" 

"Maybe Goten can do one? Hmm, do you think Bra knows how to use one of those weapon?" 

Marron shock her head. "No, I don't think Bra practices with weapons. Let's call Goten, then Trunks, and ask them to help." 

"Okay!" shouted Pan (again), getting excited about the whole thing. She ran into the back room, which served as a kind of office, and picked up the phone. Quickly she dialed Goten's number. 

"Hello?" said Goten's familiar voice. 

"Goten, it's me, Pan. Come over to Marron's dojo right away, we have something we want to ask you." 

"Do I have to come over right now? I've got Base over at my house, we were going to do some sparring, and you know Base is very serious about that kind of thing." 

A light bulb appeared over Pan's head. "Bring him with you," said Pan. 

"What? Why?" 

"Just get him to come over here with you." 

"Okay, I'll try," said Goten, into the phone. "I'm going now, bye." 

"Bye!" sang Pan, dropping the phone back on the hook. 

"What'd he say?" asked Marron from the other room. 

"Don't worry, Marron, your problems are over. I'm going to call Trunks and get him to come down here, then you can tell all three of them about the tournament." 

"Three?" said Marron. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Trunks, Goten, and Base stood in front of the two excited girls and frowned. 

"Just spit it out," said Base. "This had better be good, I don't have time to waste on nonsense." 

"Well, I'm taking a team to a Martial Arts tournament in Tokyo and I need you three to be in that team." Marron grinned cheerfully. 

"What…" said all three, starting at the smiling blonde. 

"I'm leaving," said Base, turning around. Pan jumped on his back and stuck to him like Velcro. "Get off me!" growled Base, turning circles and grabbing at her. 

"Not until you agree to stay!" shouted Pan right in his big green ear, nearly making poor Base deaf. 

"Marron, just what do you mean you want us to be on your team?" asked Trunks. 

"I need a fighter for each of the five weapons." 

"I don't know," said Goten, scratching his head. "Mom wanted me to go find a decent job this week." 

"Oh, come on Goten. Pretty please," said Marron, hugging his arm. 

Goten melted at once. "I'll find one next week! Sure I'll help," he said, nodding his head wildly. 

"I guess I can help as well," said Trunks. "Now that mom's working more at CC I'm not needed as much. In fact, she all but threatened to fire me if I didn't start training more," Trunks frowned. "Mom's been around dad too long." 

"Oh, thanks guys!" said Marron. She turned sparking eyes to the green Namek sei-jin still trying to get Pan off his back. "Base?" 

"No!" barked the Namek sei-jin, looking quite silly trying to pry Pan off. 

"Please!" 

"No!" 

"Please, please, please, please-!" 

"All right! Just shut up and get her off me!" shouted the Namek sei-jin in her face. 

Pan jumped off and high-fived Marron. "Damn, we're good," they said together. 

"Women are evil," said Base. 

"Just when they want something," said Goten with a cheerful smile. 

"Okay, which one of you will use the Caiman and which one the Tamah?" asked Marron. 

"What are those?" asked Goten. 

"I don't use weapons," said Base. 

"Come on, you two!" said Marron. She went over and picked up the said weapons. "Here," she said, handing Goten the Caiman. "You use them like this," Marron demonstrated, twirling the wooden tamah and snapping it back along her arm (think police clubs, they're kind of like that). "You can do all kinds of back hand moves and elbow strikes with them. Kind of like whipping out your arm for a punch." 

"How do you use these?" asked Goten, swinging the sharp twin Curved blades that were the caiman (kind of like a pair of small scythes) around. 

"Ahh!" screamed the other four, twisting and turning to avoid them. 

Marron snatched the two Caiman from Goten and handed them to Base. "Here, you learn his one. I don't trust Goten with scissors, let alone sharp curved blades." 

"Hey!" protested Goten, as Marron pushed him to a corner to start explaining the wooden weapons too him. "Um, Base, why don't you get a feel for the Caiman while I help Goten over here." 

Pan and Trunks looked at the wickedly sharp weapons in Base's hands and backed up. "I think we should um… practice outside," said Trunks, not wanting to be in the room if the Namek sei-jin lost a hold of one of those things. 

"Yah, Base will need lots of room," said Pan. The two turned and ran out of the dojo. 

Confused, Base looked around at the room, which was quite large and could have easily provide enough room for a dozen students to do kata at once. "I'll never understand Saiya-jins," said the Namek sei-jin, looking down at the two caiman. He shrugged and took up a fighting stance-might as well give it a try. 

Marron smiled in delight at how easily Goten picked up on fighting techniques, you never would have known by how slow he was with other things, but he was actually very good at this. She had thought teaching him would be like walking over broken glass. Marron couldn't help but giggle as the raven-haired man started having fun and making bad Bruce Lee imitations, complete with bad dub job while easily do some of the stuff he'd seen on old Martial Arts movies. 

"Goten, this is suppose to be serious stuff," she said, trying very hard to look serious, but failing with him making little whooshing noises with every simple move he did. 

"Look, Godzilla!" said Goten, pointing behind her and moving his lips out of sync with his words. 

"You're hopeless," laughed Marron, playfully smacking him on the back of the head. She turned to look at Base. "Hey, Base how are you-" she stopped, eyes going wide as she watched the Namek sei-jin easily spin with the twin blades in a very fast pace kata that was mind-numbing in its skill and grace. 

"Huh?" said Base, stopping and standing up from his forward stance. "What?" He sweat dropped as Marron and Goten looked at him like fish out of water. 

"Um, Base. Is that really the first time you've used those?" asked Goten. 

"Yah," said the Namek sei-jin, confused. "Why, am I doing something wrong?" 

"No!" said both, shaking their heads negative wildly. 

"You might be better then me and you just started," said Marron with a frown. Years of practice and green boy just picks them up and makes me look like an amateur Marron thought with slight disgust. 

"They're kind of fun," said Base, turning in a wide swing with them. "I like the balance." 

"Oh my…!" shouted Goten in shock. "Did Base just said he was having fun?! This really is the end of the world!" 

"Huh?" said Base, confused...again. 

Marron just laughed by his side. "Well, I was a little worried that three days won't be enough time to practice, but it looks like you guys already know your stuff. Let's check on Trunks and Pan, ne?" 

"Sure, I wouldn't mind seeing if those two have any skill in this area," said Base. The three walked out of the dojo and sat on the porch watching as Trunks and Pan had at it. The two weren't practicing kata, they were fighting all out. 

Pan twirled her bow over head. Grabbing it by one end she whipped it around aimed at Trunks side. The purple-haired man easily moved his sword down to protect his side and turned in to Pan, swing his sword arm out at her shoulder. Pan ducked under the blade and moved her bow down to try and sweep Trunks, who had his back to the bow now. The demi-Saiya-jin caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and did a back flip over the bow landing lightly on his feet. The two crouched down and circled each other, both looking for weakness in each other's stances. 

"Yah!" shouted Pan, planting her bow on its end and springing her self into a jump kick with it. 

Trunks turned to the side as gracefully as a bullfighter. He lunged after Pan and swung at her. Pan rolled out of the way as Trunks' sword struck the ground three times. Pan rolled to her feet and jabbed at the center of Trunks' chest with the bow's end. Trunks slapped it away, taking a fair size chuck out of the wooden bow as he did. Pan whipped the bow around to hit Trunks' blocking arm with the other end. Trunks grabbed hold of her bow with an iron grip and kicked out with his foot. Pan growled and pulled on the bow until it snapped in half, and she used it to parry Trunks foot. 

Trunks blinked in shock at the broken half of bow he held then yipped as Pan jumped on him. She bonked him once on the head with the broken piece of bow, then, grabbing his sword arm and spinning behind him to get him in an arm hold, disarmed him. She then kicked the back of his knees, causing him to kneel down, and held his own sword up to his throat. 

"O-kay," said Trunks, gulping. "I think you've got me." 

"Oh, I know I've got you," said Pan, pressing up behind him. "Know what should I do with you?" she asked in an amused deep voice. 

They heard loud crunching noises and turned to see Goten snacking on some crackers, Marron sipping green tea, and Base leaning against one of the support pillars watching them. 

"Don't stop, Pan, I want to know what you're going to do with him," said Goten. 

"I didn't know you like to force him into submission," said Marron. "You're such a dominatrix, Pan." 

Both turned a lovely shade of red. 

"It's not like that!" shouted Pan, waving a fist at him. Trunks gulped looking down at the blade quivering at his throat. 

"Pan…" he squeaked in a small voice. 

"We were just sparring!" 

Trunks began to tap her arm trying to get her attention, but she ignored him. 

"Sure you were," smiled Marron. 

"We were!" shouted Pan. 

"P-Pan," Trunks said in a really nervous voice as the blades slipped closer to his throat. "Honey… I think you should-" 

"Shut up!" Pan shouted down at him. "I'm talking!" 

Trunks shut his mouth, but began to sweat heavily. 

"Look, just because I won doesn't mean I'm going to do something kinky to him!" 

"So you were think of something kinky," said Marron. 

"What, where did you get that?!" 

"You're the one that said it, not me," grinned Marron. 

"What?! You were the one thinking it, not me!" 

"And how do you know what I was thinking?" asked Marron. 

"Why you-!" 

All the blood drained out of Trunks' face as he held his breath so as not to get cut as the blade moved even closer. 

Marron laughed. "Come on, Pan, I know you too well." 

"What's that suppose to mean?!" 

"You two, this is just silly," said Base. "We should be training." 

"You stay out of this!" barked both girls. Base backed away from them. 

"You know, Trunks doesn't look so good," said Goten, wiping the crumbs off his mouth. 

"Huh? Ah!" said Pan, pulling the sword away from his throat. 

Trunks dropped on his face and panting for breath. "Thought I…was going to… die." 

Marron shook her head. "What were you two doing sparring in the first place? We're going to a kata tournament, not a fighting one." 

"We were practicing kata," panted Trunks. "We just thought we'd have a quick spar for fun." 

"Fun, ne?" said Marron, going over and picking up one half of the broken bow. "I think you overdid it a little. I hope you don't go through too many of these, Pan. I should make you get your own if you're going to destroy them." 

"Hey, I won, didn't I?!" protested Pan. 

Marron sighed. "Never mind. Let's just get some more practice in today." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Out in space two figures floated. 

"I can't believe you dragged me out here," said Juuhachi, her voice buzzing slightly with static. 

"Oh, calm down, there's lots of neat stuff up here," replied Bulma's voice. The blue haired earthling jumped from one piece of the busted up ship to another. She found a computer terminal, and to her delight it was still functioning. "All right," said Bulma, cracking her neck. "Let's see what we can find." she began tapping at the keyboard and frowned. "Damn it, I don't understand this writing at all!" she said. Indeed, the letters and numbers were all foreign to her. "I wonder if there's a way I can get this home to look at it." She said, peering around the hunk of metal and wires. 

Juuhachi floated over to her and looked it over. "Think it will fit in the cargo bay of the ship?" 

"Maybe," said Bulma. "The problem is getting it there-ah!" said Bulma, as the blond android grabbed hold of the broken section of ship and started pushing it toward their Capsule Corp. ship. "I knew you'd be helpful," smiled Bulma, giving a quick burst from her jetpack to catch up to the android. 

"Great, I get to be a pack mule," grumbled the blond. Juuhachi stopped and snapped her head to the side. 

"What?" asked Bulma. 

"I thought I saw something," said Juuhachi, scanning around. 

"Eh?" said Bulma. "I don't see anything in all this junk." 

Juuhachi frowned. "Never mind, must have been a drifting piece of wreckage," she said, resuming pulling the hunks of metal towards the ship. They reached it and Bulma went to see if the section would fit and if their ship could handle the extra weight when reentering the atmosphere. "No good," said Bulma. "It'll hold it, but the door's not big enough to fit it through." 

Juuhachi sighed, looked at the hunk of ship, took aim, and fired at a section of it. 

"What are you doing?!" shouted Bulma in panic. "You'll break it!" 

"It's already broken," said the android, blasting off another section. "There," she said, "now it will fit." 

Bulma slapped a hand over the glass of her helmet. "I hope you didn't blast off anything important." 

"I'm pretty sure I didn't," said Juuhachi. "From what I know of machines, that part wasn't connected to the components of the computer." The blonde chucked the section into the ship far less gentle then Bulma would have liked. 

"Juu, please! This stuff is delicate!" 

"It survived a blast from your daughter, I don't think me kicking it around will make it much worst." 

Bulma peered into the load of stuff they'd collected. "I think we've got a full load now. Let's head back, I can't wait to take a look at his stuff," she said, her excitement very evident. 

"Does Vegeta, know we're up here?" asked the android, floating over to the air hatch. 

Bulma grinned. "What he doesn't know can't hurt him." 

"Thought so," said Juuhachi. She turned around and looked at the vastness of space. "It's so quiet out here," she said softly. 

"Did you say something, Juu…?" asked Bulma, activating the magnets on her suit to stand on the ship. 

"No, nothing," said the blonde. 

"Okay, first we need to close the cargo doors," she said, typing in the command to a computer terminal inside the hatch. "Then we need to close this door," said Bulma as the hatch to the air locket they were in closed. "Last we pump in some 02 and pressurize." Juuhachi and Bulma both felt their weight return to them and they were truly standing once again. 

"Ah!" said Bulma, yanking off her helmet. "I hate these things, they always mess up my hair." 

"Poor thing," mocked Juuhachi, also taking her helmet off then fumbling with the zippers and ties of her suit. "I wish you'd make something less bulky and more comfortable," she said, throwing the suit in the middle of the room. Under she wore a tight jumpsuit cover in the Capsule Corps logos. It was a black, white, and purple. The android unzipped the front for more comfort, showing an ample amount of cleavage. 

"Well, we'll see, maybe these aliens know how to manufacture a slimmer space suit." She pulled off her own suit and put it in its compartment, picking up the android's as well and stuffing it in after; she also wore a CC jumpsuit. "Juu, you go ahead and start up the engines and chart a course home. I'm going to take a look at some of the stuff we picked up." 

"You sure that's a good idea?" asked the android skeptically. "That was a battle ship, some of that stuff could be weapons. I really don't want you blasting a hole in the ship when we're entering the atmosphere or worse." 

"Oh, I won't do anything like that," said Bulma, waving her hand at Juuhachi. "I'll be careful." She smiled as she went to the cargo bay. 

Juuhachi sighed and headed to the controls. That Briefs girl sure loved her toys. The blond android sat down at the control chair and started programming the system. After finishing she leaned back to look at the earth. "Beautiful…" She frowned looking at the large blemishes that the attack on earth had left on the planet's surfaces. Big ugly marks that looked like someone had burned holes in the green and blue planet. "Such eye sores," she said, then snorted. "I've been listening too much to Krillin and Marron, I'm starting to sound like them. What do I care about such things." She sighed and looked back at the planet. "Once I wouldn't have cared, having done the same thing myself without a thought. Am I so different, after all?" She didn't know if she liked the change or not-it could be used against her someday, caring too much. Her husband cared too much and he'd been killed three times! But then again, people that cared about him had also brought him back three times. It was all so confusing. You care about something, it turns around and bites you in the ass, then it some how makes up for it. 

Juuhachi shook her head and entered the command to start the engines. She was getting too sentimental. 

Bulma happily took apart some kind of strange box shaped machine. Suddenly the thing spit out a hot bowl of some kind of liquid, which spilled all over her and burnt her thighs. 

"Hot!" screeched Bulma, jumping up and dancing around. She tugged on her jumpsuit and looked down at the machine. "What is this stuff?" she asked, kneeling down to get a better look. She sniffed; it smelt like soup or something. "Oh my! I'll bet it's some kind of food replicator, like in Star Trek! How neat!" she said, poking at it again to try and make it spit something else out. "Come on, work, you piece of junk!" barked Bulma. 

She snapped her head to the side as a pile of stuff shifted and fell. "Juuhachi? Is that you?" asked Bulma, leaving her machine to walk over to the pile. She looked around, confused, not finding the blonde. "Hmm, must have just fallen on its own," said Bulma. 

Behind another pile of nearby junk hid a creature with blood red eyes, a fin going from the top of its head down its back, webbed feet and hands, and light green skin. It peered at Bulma as she went back to her new toy. It was holding its side where purple liquid ran down, now that it was back in an environment with gravity. The creature breathed shakily and slumped down against the junk pile. It was very weak from barely surviving the explosion of its ship. Lucky for it, its species didn't need to breathe oxygen. The creature closed its eyes. It needed a little rest, then it would find a way to contact Lucifer's force and see if there was another ship that could pick him up on the way. 

The creature breathed softly as it was soon out cold. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Vegeta landed softly on the grass outside Capsule Corps and looked around. Things had started to calm down a little, since it'd been a while since the first ship had appeared. Still, the security at CC was now so tight it was a pain in the ass to just get up to use the bathroom at night. Why did so many stupid humans wish for this kind of fame?! It drove him nuts! He'd been taking off to go to the most isolated places he could find on this over-populated dust ball-but unfortunately, that often meant he had no idea what his mate and brats were up to. 

What the kids did was their business, but he liked to keep tabs on them, and Bulma was always getting herself in trouble. Just where was the woman anyway? He couldn't feel her anywhere. Feh, she was probably out shopping or at a meeting. 

He signed and headed towards the house, blasting an alarm robot that asked him to identify himself. The Saiya-jin raided the fridge and was almost finished with his makeshift meal when his sensitive hearing picked up a low hiss that sent his instincts reeling into action. The Saiya-jin jumped out of his chair, sending it crashing to the floor, and ran to the sliding glass door that lead out back. His head snapped up to search the sky, eyes narrowing as he spotted a small speck heading in his directions. He left the building to leap into the sky and watched as a ship slowly came into view. He relaxed only slightly as he spotted the CC logo on its side. 

"Stupid woman," hissed Vegeta under his breath. "What the hell does she think she's doing?" He watched the ship moved over to the launch pad set off by the giant building's engineering section, and landed. With a frown he flew over to wait for his blue haired mate at the ship's cargo exit. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

The finned alien was jarred awake as it felt the ship enter atmosphere. It held on tight, looking around for the blue haired creature that had been collecting scrap from the ship. She was seat belted into a chair bolted to the floor. 

The ship shook violently and the creature held on tightly to the pile of junk he sat next to. This planet's ship designs were primitive at best! After a while the ship stopped shaking and the alien could feel it level out. It sighed in relief as the ship set down and the blue haired woman unbuckled herself. It watched as she went to a hatch and opened it to be confronted by a not too happy-looking man with spiky hair. It didn't take long for the two to start arguing. 

"Now's my chance," gurgled the creature in a watery voice. It pulled out a small handheld device adjusted the dial on it to work with the satellite waves that were being bounced out into space by the planet. The device beeped to life with much static. 

"Come in, Head Quarters, respond, please respond. This is private Gimru, #999-232-009, respond." There was a lot of static, then a faint and static-ridden voice replied. 

"This is _Angel of Death_, of Lucifer's forces. Where are you, private?" 

"Yes," hissed the creature with relief. "I'm on the blue planet, 225-963-007, only known survivor of the battle ship _Red River_, requesting a pick up team." 

There was a long pause on the other end and a new excited male voice answered. 

"Soldier, can you tell me where you are?" 

"No, I'm still inside the ship that brought me here-" 

"Never mind," said the man, cutting him off. "Have you seen any Saiya-jins?" 

"Saiya-jins?" said the creature. "That's the last thing I want right now!" he hissed into the device. 

There was a low growl on the device. "Private, you have a new mission, which is to find and locate any Saiya-jins on that planet. You will report your findings, when we come with in shuttle distance in two days." 

"But sir!" protested the alien. "I'm injured, I'm no match for a Saiya-jin, and I have no way of collecting the kind of info you request!" The creature froze as a shadow fell over it. Slowly it turned to see that spiky haired creature standing over him, behind it the blue-haired creature, looking shocked. The creature gasped as it spotted a long fury brown tail swaying behind the man, in a way a cat's tail might before it got ready to pounce. 

"Saiya-jin…" gasped the creature. 

"What?" shouted the voice on the other end of the device. 

The alien grabbed for its weapon tucked in its belt and drew it, only to have the Saiya-jin kick his hand, breaking the bones in it. 

"Oh shit! Saiya-jin! It's a fucking Saiya-jin!" hollered the creature, throwing the communication device at Vegeta. 

Vegeta batted it away into a pile of junk and deliver a bone crushing kick to the creatures head, snapping its neck with a loud crack. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

"Private? Private Gimru?! Respond damn it!" shouted Doctor Mono, pounding a fist down on the communication console he'd been using. 

"I think I can hear something doctor," said the crewman stationed at that unit. Both leaned forward to hear two voices speaking angrily. 

The doctor smiled with delight. "Found you, I can't want to get my hands on you, prince Vegeta. Get a lock on that communication device that's where we'll find our Saiya-jin." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Vegeta cursed and looked down at the creature he'd just killed. He spun to glare at his mate. "Are you happy now, woman?! This is why you should forget about that junk! You'll only bring more trouble on us!" 

"Oh, come on, you killed him like he was nothing, Vegeta." She glared at him, "Which you shouldn't have done! We could have gotten information out of him! But you killed him before we could ask anything!" 

"Information! If you'd been the one to find him, he'd have killed you! Then what good would your information and junk be to you?!" 

"Vegeta, we don't even know what he was here for, he was screaming Saiya-jin at the top of his lungs! He could have been after you! What if another ship is out there and they're trying to kill you?! Huh?! I need this junk to figure out what we're up against!" 

"You should haven't gone up there alone!" 

"She wasn't alone," Juuhachi interjected, stepping out from the control room. She glanced at the dead alien. "I thought I saw something," she said, kicking the dead thing. 

"You," growled Vegeta. He turned to Bulma, "I don't trust her to protect you. Next time you take Trunks or me with you!" 

Bulma was about to scream at him, but thought, then smiled. She plastered herself to his side in the next instant. "You were worried about me! How sweet!" she said, hugging him about the neck. 

"I was not, you pain in the ass!" shouted Vegeta. 

"Ohhhh! I know you better then that," said Bulma, rubbing her cheek against his. 

"Ah! Get off of me!" 

Juuhachi sighed-those two were odd. They fought like cats and dogs, got on each others' nerves, then one would get an upper hand on the other and rub it in, which usually ended up with the winner getting his or her way. It looked like Vegeta had lost his round. No doubt Bulma was going to make him pay the price, which was usually to drag him some where to make out or get him to do tasks for her; Juuhachi was betting she wanted to make out, since she was now kissing the loudly protesting Saiya-jin. Looks like he'd been gone too long on another of his training trips. She should give them their privacy. "I'm going home, Bulma. Call me if you need any help." 

"Oh okay!" Bulma waved, one arm still wrapped around her husband's neck, his face cover with several lipstick smears. The next instant she'd jumped up into the Saiya-jin's arms. "It's been a lone time since we've had some time alone, why don't you make it up to me?" she asked, leaning her head on his shoulder. 

"Vixen," smirked Vegeta. He leaned down and kissed her. "Don't you do that again. I'm serious, those aliens are bad news." He kissed her again, then with a growl, carried her out of the ship. 

Bulma sighed and listened to his heartbeat. "I'll be careful. I don't want to be another helpless person for you to protect, Vegeta. If I can help it, I may do a fair share of the fighting from now on." 

Vegeta smirked. "That's why I like you. You like to fight back." 

"Oh?" said Bulma. The next moment, she jumped out of his arms and was running away from him at full speed. "In that case you won't take me without a fight!" she hollered over her shoulder. 

Vegeta smirked and watched her go. He counted softly to himself. After giving her a three-minute head start, he started walking after her. "Here, little human," he called, tail swinging behind him. "Let's see just how good of a fight you can put up." 


	6. Chapter 5: Everyone's a Genius, Some of ...

War of Worlds 

Chapter 5: Everyone's a Genius, Some of us Are Just A Few Brain Cells Short 

Dr. Mono went about his lab, checking his instruments. He picked up a scalpel and ran a thumb over its sharp edge, testing it. 

"Getting ready for something, good doctor?" came a honeyed voice behind him. 

The Doctor turned to see Lady Kijo leaning against the operating table, dressed in tight black material that better showed her true heritage. The doctor smiled. "So it is true, you're an Akuma," said the doctor with a gleam in his eyes. 

"Yes," said Kijo, tossing her long green hair. "Just like Lord Lucifer," she grinned, spreading short bat-like wings on her back. She closed them and they all but disappeared under the long curtain of green hair. "Of course, I pale in comparison to his power. You could say I'm a lesser demon, but I'm still very powerful." Her purple eyes glowed softly in an eerie way. 

"Ah, then you'd better hope our Lord never becomes displeased with you, or one day you may be the one I use this on," said the doctor, holding up the scalpel. He looked at her in an equally creepy way and licked the small knife. 

Kijo hissed between her teeth at him. "I will never be one of your guinea pigs, good doctor." She smiled at him in a charming way, then continued. "Nor will the Saiya-jin prince, if I have any say about it." 

"What!" growled Mono in rage. He threw the blade at her, causing the slender demoness to spread her wings and jump, easily flipping behind the table as the scalpel embedded into the table she'd been leaning against. Kijo laughed. 

"Don't test your luck, good doctor. You're here to study the Saiya-jins at the moment, not kill them. My lord is eager to hear your report. As for Vegeta," she grinned and slapped a hand on her hip. "He's my assignment, not yours." 

"Damn you," growled Dr. Mono. "You said I could do what I like to them!" 

"The demi-Saiya-jins, yes; the Saiya-jin, no. You are to follow my orders, good doctor. And at the moment all you are to do is watch," she turned around and flipped her long hair. "You'll have to wait for the chance to use your toys," she said with a laugh and walked out of the room. 

"Demon bitch!" shouted Mono at her back. (Mesuinu is Japanese for bitch; you could have him say, "Akuma MESUINU!" or something, if you wanted, I don't know… ~T.H.) 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bulma cursed as she leaned back in her chair and looked at the alien computer screen in front of her. 

"Ahhh! This stuff is impossible to understand!" she screamed, rubbing her head. 

"Too bad we don't have an alien translator," said Juuhachi, over her shoulder. 

"Shouldn't we be getting ready to put up that barrier of yours?" said Juunana, next to his sister. 

Bulma looked over her shoulder at the two twins and turned her chair around to face them. "I know, but once I get the barrier up, it will be extremely difficult to salvage any more of the alien technology. I was hoping I could get a readout of all the ship's functions and components before I set it up." 

"This stuff is complex," said Juunana, going over to a hunk of scrap they'd brought back. "It's at least as complex a design as Juuhachi and I. Whoever we're up against must have some incredible scientists working for them." He frowned and turned to look at Bulma. "I think we should get that barrier up as soon as possible. I get the feeling something bad is going to happen soon." He gave Juuhachi a serious look and the blond android frowned as well. She'd been having a bad feeling for a long time now and her twin had sensed that from her. She didn't like being up against an unknown enemy. When she and Juunana had been brought on line, she had already received detailed information on Goku and the rest of the Z fighters, which gave them a clue on what they were up against. It went against both their programming to just charge into a battle without sufficient data, especially now that they knew they weren't the strongest beings around. 

"Have you thought about asking Vegeta if he can read this?" asked Juunana tapping the computer screen. "He is an alien that was among many different species of aliens in Freeza's forces. Maybe there's a standard language he can translate." 

Bulma's mouth dropped. "You're right! I never even thought about asking him! Yatta! Juunana you're great!" she yelled with excitement, jumping up and running out of the lab. 

"Hey! Wait! What about the barrier!" Juunana shouted. He cursed, seeing she was already gone. "Humans are such unorganized creatures." 

Juuhachi nodded her head. "She working on several high tech projects at once. That's why I asked you to help, its too much stuff for a mere human to do alone." 

"I agree." he went over to another computer off to the side and sat down. "I have to admit, she's come up with some pretty interesting stuff," he added, scrolling over the plans laid out on the screen. "I would have never thoughts such a limited thing as a mere human could accomplish so much in so short a time. This barrier might actually work. How did she come up with the designs for this, they look like…" he turned to stare at Juuhachi with blue eyes. 

"Yes," she said, nodding her head. "She used my central unit as a basic design." 

"So basically these machines would be similar to us, only without organic components," he frowned, crossing his arms. "That's how she designed a barrier strong enough. This could deflect blasts as easily as we do." 

Juuhachi nodded. "At least ones that aren't too powerful. We estimate it'll stop a blast like the ones aimed at earth before, but if they do have some powerful ki wielders on their side, the barrier won't provide any protection from them." 

"Yes, this worries me," agreed Juunana. "To keep them completely out, we'll need a base or ship out orbiting the earth to fight them off in combat. This barrier will only do so much in the way of protection. It won't drive them off." 

"Well, that's what we and the Saiya-jins are for," Juuhachi shrugged. "It's been a while since I've had a decent fight," she added, sitting on the table next to him. 

Juunana smirked at her. "I too was starting to get a little bored." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Vegeta was spinning in a mess of kicks and punches, hovering in midair in the gravity room, which was up to a whopping 1000gs. Sweat rolled down his back and chest making the black sleeveless shirt he wore stick to him in various places. He yelled and shouted as he massacred dozens of unseen opponents. Due to the amount of noise he was making he never heard the computer beep, signaling someone was about to enter the room. He sure felt it as his whole body was sent crashing into the ceiling as the gravity suddenly went back to 1g. 

"Vegeta!" Bulma shouted in an excited voice. She blinked her blue eyes and looked around the room searching for him. She looked up as a piece of roof fell to hit the floor. "Vegeta, what are you doing with your head stuck in the ceiling like that?" she asked. 

In respond the Saiya-jin crossed his arm and growled. His head and shoulders were embedded in the ceiling. The hair on his tail fluffed out in an irritated fashion. "I'm checking out the circuitry, what do you think I'm doing!" shouted the Saiya-jin, moving his hands up to push himself out of the ceiling. He fell down to land in a crouch in front of her. "Woman, this is the seventh time you barged in here and that's happened!" he barked. 

"Well what do you want me to do? Knock?" she snapped back, crossing her arms. "The world could come to an end outside this thing and you'd never know." 

Vegeta groaned and rubbed his forehead, really not in the mood to fight with her for once. "What do you want, woman?" 

Bulma's face at once lifted back up in a bright-excited smile. "I want you to take a look at something," she said, going over and pulling on his arm. 

"No," said the prince. He made a shooing motion with his hand. "I've got more important things to do then look at your toys. Now go away." 

Bulma frowned at him and leaned in closer. Innocently she moved to his side, and before he could guess what she was up to, she grabbed hold of his tail. 

"Woman!" he warned. 

Bulma smiled devilishly and began to gently run her fingers against the lay of the fur on his tail. A visible shiver started at Vegeta's toes and worked its way up. Still grinning, Bulma gave a light tug on the furry appendage and started dragging her husband out of the gravity room. Whenever he voiced his complaints, she ruffled the soft fur again and his complaints-and his voice-would stop for a while. 

Juunana and Juuhachi were taking a coffee break when they both raised an eyebrow. 

"Now that's something you don't see every day," said the blond android. 

"A girl dragging a Saiya-jin around by the tail," her black-haired twin added, sounding amused at the thought. 

"Woman!" barked Vegeta. "Let go right now!" growled Vegeta as Bulma dragged him into her lab where Juunana and Juuhachi were sitting. 

"I thought Vegeta had conditioned himself so that it wasn't painful to have his tail grabbed," said Juuhachi. 

"Oh, it's not painful," grinned Bulma, running one finger from the tip to the base, going against the fur of Vegeta's tail. The Saiya-jin prince's head lolled to the side, eyes dropping shut half way. "I can't hurt him by grabbing it, I'm not strong enough-but it's still very sensitive to a light touch. I can make him get down on his knees and purr like a kitten if I work hard enough at it." 

Vegeta shook his head and growled angrily at her. "Is this what you wanted to show me, woman? I've already seen the two tin cans," said Vegeta, referring to the androids. 

"Be nice," said Bulma, tugging on his tail again. 

"Let go," growled Vegeta, eyes narrowing at her. 

Bulma shrugged and let the furry length slip through her fingers. Vegeta at once wrapped it safely around his waist. 

"Take a look at his," said Bulma, moving over to the computer screen and pointing to the strange alien script. 

Vegeta looked over her shoulder at it. "So what?" 

"Can you read it, baka?!" she snapped at him. 

Vegeta looked closer at the print and began talking softly in some strange tongue while his eyes ran across the screen. "It's the captain's log," said Vegeta, and then he frowned. "Damn, this guy has bad grammar." 

"You can read it?" said Bulma in pleasant surprised voice. 

"Of course I can," said Vegeta, standing back up straight. "It's standard, why wouldn't I be able to?" 

"I didn't even know you could read," Bulma admitted. 

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her. "You think I'm stupid, don't you?" 

"Stupid, no, but literate?" she rocked her hand back and forth in the 'so-so' motion, grinning at the expression on her mate's face. 

Vegeta bared his teeth at her and growled deep in his throat. "I'll have you know I can speak five standard tongues fluently, the basics in two more, read and write three standard alien alphabets, and that's not even including my own native tongue and writing system." 

The two androids and the Bulma stared at him with wide eyes. 

"What?!" Bulma exclaimed after a long pause. "Why didn't you ever tell me before?! I didn't know you were a scholar!" 

Vegeta snort. "Don't get me mixed up with Kakarot's brat. As a prince it was required of me to learn a far amount of stuff, it was my royal obligation to my people. You think they'd just stick any dumb monkey on the thrown?! My people would have never lasted so long if they had," snapped Vegeta, crossing his arms and giving them the characteristic view of his back. "We've been around long before your species even stood up right." 

Bulma was having just a little trouble believing that her husband might actually know about something else besides fighting. Gee… I wonder if he has other skills that he's never shown or told me about before, she thought. 

"Hn," said Juunana, the faintest hint of a grin in his voice. "Maybe he's just been pretending to be stupid all these years." 

Vegeta bared his teeth at him and took a step towards the raven-haired android. It was clear that he intended to maim him. 

"Vegeta!" shouted Bulma, jumping on his back. "Calm down." 

"Calm down!" roared Vegeta. "I'm going to turn him into a pile of scrap!" 

"Later!" barked Bulma. "Right now I've got a job for you!" She swung him around and shoved him in the computer chair. Grinning, she held up a notepad and a pencil. "Translate." 

"I'm not one of your stupid assistants!" growled Vegeta, crossing his arms. "This is a waste of my time." 

"No, you're wasting my time: now translate!" Bulma replied, crossing her arms as well. 

A long staring contest began. 

15 minutes later… 

Vegeta sat with a very bored expression on his face in front of the computer. He was leaning with his cheek on one of his hands and frowning darkly at the computer screen as one hand continued to tap on the down arrow. 

"I feel like a stupid secretary." 

Bulma laughed, leaning over his back to give him a smooch on the cheek. "Can I dress you up in a business suit and take you to work with me?" 

Vegeta's answer was to frown even darker at the monitor. 

Bulma laughed again. "You're right, I won't be able to concentrate with a sexy piece of man like you outside my office, making me coffee, copies, doing whatever I say, calling me Mrs. Briefs." Her voice was slowly getting deeper, as no doubt she was really starting to like the idea. "I might even be tempted to break company policy and give you a private session in my office to show me your skills." 

"Hmm," said Vegeta, a little grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He shook his head as if to clear it, frowned darker-if at all possible-at the computer and started hitting the down key much harder to distract himself from his tensing mate. He didn't want her to get any more of her kinky ideas and force him to do something embarrassing; she had a tendency to do that a lot. 

"When you're done with this I'd like you to write down those other alien writing systems and some basic words so I can start a program to translate on the computer." She flipped open a kid's reading book that she'd dropped off earlier beside him. "Just rewrite this book in those other four languages you know and I should be able to work from there." 

Vegeta began to pound on the down key, obviously not thrilled at the request. He stopped for a moment to scribble down what he'd just read angrily. "I can't believe I'm doing this (grumble, grumble)," he muttered under his breath. "I should have kept my mouth shut and never mentioned I could read this crap (grumble, grumble)." 

Bulma smiled smugly and rubbed his shoulders. "I'll make it up to you tonight, promise," she smirk-grinned. "Right now I've got to go help Juunana and Juuhachi with the final launch preparations. They're going to get some more ship scrap and put up the first barrier satellite above the arctic (the arctic what? Sea? Or did you mean North Pole? -T.H.)." (Answer: That would be the North pole Trillion-san) 

"You're not going with them?" asked Vegeta, not looking up from the screen. 

"No, not this time. Juuhachi knows just as much as me about the satellite and with Juunana she'll have no problems getting it up and operational." 

"Since when did they become so technically gifted?" grumbled Vegeta. 

"Actually, according to Juuhachi, both of them have pre-programmed knowledge of their internal systems so they could repair themselves or each other if need be. Considering how high tech they are, that makes them pretty much engineering genius. I didn't know myself till Juuhachi stepped into my lab one day while I was having some problems with a device and told me what I was doing wrong." 

"Hhn," snorted Vegeta. "Their powers and knowledge were just handed to them. They didn't have to work for any of it, that sickens me." 

"It's not like they asked to become androids, Vegeta." 

"How do you know? Their past is a blank before they were changed. You have no idea what kind of people they might have been before Doctor Gero turned them into androids." 

"That's true, Vegeta, but not everyone's as power hungry as you." 

"Power hungry," snorted Vegeta. "I gave up that ambition long ago. My only goal is Kakarot, and to achieve that, I need power and strength." 

Bulma was silent a long time. "You still want to beat him don't you?" 

"Of course." 

"But… he's gone." 

"He's not dead, I'm still waiting for him." 

"You think he'll come back some day?" asked Bulma. 

"Some day he will," answered Vegeta. 

"How can you be so sure?" asked Bulma, puzzled. 

"He's a Saiya-jin, just like me." Vegeta replied enigmatically. 

Bulma looked with confusion at Vegeta's profile, but the Saiya-jin prince didn't give anything away as to what he meant by that with his expression. Bulma sighed and kissed him again on the cheek. "I'll see you tonight," she said, moving to go help with the final preparations. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

"Ahh! I love shopping," said Bra. "Especially when I can find a complete stylish outfit where even my underwear matches." she smiled happily. 

"Why should you care if you underwear matches?" asked Pan in confusion. The two were sitting in Bra's purple sports car, Pan at the wheel, going down the highway after a good shopping spree at the mall. "It's not like people are going to see them." 

"Oh, well, maybe someone might, you never now," said Bra, winking at her friend. 

Pan blushed. 

"I know, Pan, next time let's go lingerie shopping together! You can surprise Trunks!" 

Pan nearly swerved the car right into another car, her face blazing red at the very idea. "Bra! That's not my style!" 

Bra pulled herself back up in her seat, tugging back down her short skirt, and grinned at the quarter Saiya-jin. "Just trying to spice up your life. So you don't like to put on a show for your mate? Poor Trunks…hey, I know! Let's by some Chippendale stuff and Trunks can put on a show for you." 

Pan nearly had a nose bleed-she had no idea it was possible for girls to do that-and once again the car veered toward the other lane. "Bra!!!! I'm trying to drive here!!!" she shouted, her whole body bright red. 

"Pan! Watch where you're going!" shouted Bra, pointing ahead. 

"Huh? Ahhhh!!!!!" Pan shouted again, panicked and turning the wheel just in time to avoid hitting another car. The quarter Saiya-jin breathed in ragged breaths, looking forward with wide eyes. 

"Pan, how did you ever get your license?" asked Bra. 

"I didn't have you in the seat next to me!" snapped Pan. 

"Hey, you missed the turn off," said Bra, looking over her shoulder. 

"No, I need to go see Marron. Oh yah! You don't know, do you?" 

"Know what?" asked Bra. 

"About the tournament," said Pan. "The one Marron's taking me, Trunks, Goten, and Base to compete in." 

"What?! No way, how cool. I want to go!" 

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Marron." 

"I wish you had told me sooner, I would have helped you guys." She lifted her hand over her head in a quick cheer. "I could have been a cheerleader or something for you guys." 

"It's not football, Bra," said Pan. "You probably won't like it, just a bunch of old masters sitting around judging kata. There isn't going to be any fighting." 

"No fighting, so it's more of a display of skills, grace, flow, and movement. You'd better wear something cute if everyone's going to have their eyes glued on you." 

"No, we're just going to wear the typical Kame-style gi." 

"Oh, that's no good," said Bra, crossing her arms. "I know, I'll help you guys out!" she said cheerfully and nodding her head. 

"Help us out?" said Pan. "What do you mean by that?" 

Bra grinned widely. "You'll see." She reached into her purse, pulled out a pencil, and stuck it behind her ear. She also pulled out a small notepad. Pan didn't see what she had in her hand as she shoved something else in her pocket. 

Pan sweat dropped with a "…", not sure if she like the sound or look of that. 

It didn't take them long to reach Marron's dojo. They opened the sliding screen door to see that Base, Goten, Trunks, and Marron were already inside practicing. 

"Hi!" chirped Bra, kicking off her shoes and walking in. "Thought you could have a party without me, did you?" 

"Oh no, not that crazy Briefs girl," muttered Base under his breath. Bra was pressed up against his side in an instant. 

"Ahhh, you missed me, did you, Base? That's so sweet!" she practically purred, nudging him in a teasing matter. Everyone sweat dropped as she pulled out a measuring tape and lifted Base's arm to measure from his armpit to his wrist. 

"What are you doing?!" shouted Base, snapping his arm away from her. 

Bra hummed to herself and scribbled down the measurement on her notepad. She then went behind Base and forced his arms up to measure from one wrist to the other across his back. 

"Stop that!" shouted Base, as she tried to measure from his ankle to the crotch of his pants. 

"Oh, quit being such a big green baby," scolded Bra as she stood up and looped the measuring tape around his waist. 

"Make her stop!" Base whined, looking more then a little freaked out by Bra's actions. 

Everyone just blinked confused eyes at the scene as Bra climbed all over the freaked out Namek sei-jin taking measurements. 

"Trunks, what is your sister doing?" Goten whispered. 

The purple haired demi-Saiya-jin shrugged, at a loss. 

Bra finally released Base and the Namek sei-jin ran across the room as far away from her as he could get. "I'll never understand you females!" he said. 

Bra only grinned at him and walked over to Pan. Without a word she forced the girl's arms up and wrapped the measure around her bust. Pan turned a lovely shade of red as Trunks and Goten's eyes bugged out. 

"Wow, Pan. I think you've grown an inch or two," Bra teased. 

"Bra!!!!" shouted Pan, raising a fist at the demi-Saiya-jin girl. 

"Hold it!" shouted Bra, making Pan pause in mid-swing. Bra straightened her arm out and measured it, then wrote down the numbers. "Okay." 

Pan blinked her dark eyes at Bra a moment then completed the swing, only to have Bra dodge out of the way and reappear at a different angle to take another measurement. 

"Oops, one too many sweets there, Pan," Bra chided, looking down at the tape as she looped it around Pan's waist. 

"Ahhh!" growled Pan and began to attack all out, looking quite silly as Bra effortlessly moved out of the way and took another measurement. By the time Bra was done Pan was breathing ragged breaths. 

"I'm going to get you one of these days, Bra Briefs!" she vowed between pants. 

"Looking forward to it," smiled Bra, holding up the peace sign. She walked over to Goten and smiled charmingly at him. 

Goten gave a shrug and just lifted his arms to let her do her thing. 

"Bra, what are you doing?" asked Trunks as his sister moved all around Goten. 

"Isn't it obvious? I'm taking your measurements." 

"…" was Trunks' response. 

"And why do you want those?" asked Marron as she finished with Goten. 

"You'll see. Since you didn't invite me to go with you, I'll participate in my own why." She gestured for Marron to lift her arms. With a sigh, the blond complied and Bra did her thing. 

"Hey Goten," called Bra. 

"Huh? What?" asked Goten. 

"Want to know Marron's three sizes?" 

"Bra," said Marron, not looking mad, just kind of annoyed. 

"Um… that's okay." 

Bra wrote down Marron's measurements. "You sure, I don't think you'll be disappointed," she sang, waving the notepad at him. 

"Well…" said Goten, looking actually very interested. He glanced at Marron beside Bra as the blond crossed her across and gave him the look. 

Goten laughed nervously. "Er, haha, no, that's okay Bra!" he said, waving his hand at her. 

"Ahh, you're no fun," said Bra, going over to Trunks. "Okay, bro, you know the routine, spread um." 

Trunks surrendered without a fight. Once Bra was done she happily sat down and flipped to a clean piece of paper. She licked the tip of her pencil and brought it down to the page. "Just go back to your practice, pretend I'm not here." She instructed, waving at them. They all blinked at her, then turned to look at one another, not sure just what to make of it all. 

"Why do I have his sinking feeling in my stomach suddenly…" said Base, as he eyed the blue-haired girl who looked like she was doodling, the way her hand was moving around the page. 

"You're not the only one, Base," Trunks agreed. 

Marron shook her head and clapped her hands. "That's enough time wasted, back to work, everyone. We've only got one day till the tournament, time to get down your final moves and work it to perfection. Let's move, move it!" she called above their conversation. 

"Marron, you take charge so well," smiled Bra, not looking up from her notepad. "A natural leader," she added, too softly for the others to hear. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

"Ahh, that was a good work out," said Trunks, wiping sweat off his brow. 

"Your form is great as always, Trunks," Marron smiled. "I'll see you all tomorrow morning, seven sharp, remember. We don't want to be late." 

"You might want to call Goten before six just to make sure he gets up," teased Trunks. Goten gave him a playful shove and went over to Marron, kissing her cheek. 

"I won't miss it for the world," he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Marron smiled sweetly at him. "I'll see you tomorrow," he waved, before disappearing through the door. 

"Ahh, you two are so cute together." Bra commented with a grin, still sitting down on the floor with her notepad. "When are you two going to stop playing around and declare yourselves a couple? We all know you like each other." 

Marron only smiled at the blue-haired demi-Saiya-jin. "That's none of your business, Bra. Don't be a busybody." 

"But it's my job," Bra smiled. "I got Trunks and Pan together, and now it's your and Goten's turn. I won't rest till you're all set up for life," the demi-Saiya-jin girl smiled again, stretching. 

"Even Base?" asked Pan, looking at the Namek sei-jin over her shoulder as he was putting the sheaths on his Caiman. 

"Leave me out of this," snapped Base, standing up straight and glaring at them. 

"Oh, especially Base," grinned Bra. 

"Great," muttered Base, moving towards the door. "The blue-haired terror is out to get me." 

"And don't you forget!" sang Bra. 

"How can I." Base muttered flatly, leaving without a goodbye. 

"Well, I'm going too," said Marron. "Bye, you guys, get lots of sleep, I don't want you all tired out for tomorrow. Trunks, lock up for me," said Marron, giving a little wave before leaving the dojo. 

"Better get your stuff then, you two," Trunks said to Pan and Bra. "I'm going to lock the back door," he added before going back into the small office to the side. 

Pan packed up her stuff and walked over to Bra to peer over her shoulder. Her face dropped with what she saw. "Bra, just what the hell are you drawing?!" 

A rough sketch of Marron and Goten all decked out in leather was on the pad. The sketch was surprisingly realistic, but what really got Pan was that Marron was smiling with a naughty grin her face, holding a bullwhip in one hand. Goten's jacket was hanging loose on his arms, which were chained together, the chain going up to a dog collar around his throat and another chain branching from that like a leash-Marron holding the end. 

"You like?" asked Bra, mockingly innocent. 

Pan just stared at her. She looked down at he pad and noted that there were several more pages flipped over and tucked under the pad, meaning they'd been used as well. She wondered briefly what was on the other sheets and sweat dropped, wondering if she'd done a picture like that of her and Trunks. She reached down for the pad to check, but Bra snatched it out her reach. 

"Ah, ah, ahhh…sore wa himitsu desu ^_^… (mind your own business ~T.H.)" said Bra, waggling a finger at her. "I don't want you spoiling my surprise, now." 

"Surprise?!" said Pan. She knew Bra did a lot of her own clothing designs, and she glanced down at the sketch again. "Bra, you'll never get Marron or Goten to model like that for you," said Pan, pointing at the sketch. 

Bra laughed. "I know. Don't worry, I don't plan to, I just drew this one for fun. Marron's got a nice figure and she looks cute together with Goten. She doesn't let me dig as much into her love life like you do, Pan," smiled the blue-haired girl. 

"I won't let you either if I could help it," said Pan, crossing her arms. "So what's on the other sheets, more kinky pics?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"No, not really, just designs," said Bra, folding the pages over and tucking the pad under her arm. 

"Designs for what?" asked Pan. 

"You'll see," Bra grinned mischievously. 

A weird image formed in Pan head of all five of them decked out in ass-tight leather at the tournament. A large sweat drop ran slowly down the side of her face. "Bra, you know that these tournaments are designed around tradition and respect for oneself and their teachers, right," Pan said just as slowly as the sweat drop. 

"Of course," said Bra, getting up and dusting off her skirt. 

"So you're not going to do anything crazy, are you?" asked Pan hopefully. 

Bra smiled widely at her and Pan sweat dropped again. Stupid question, this was Bra she was talking to. 

Trunks came back out, then. "Okay, the place is locked up, let's get going." he smiled, picking up his bag. 

"Right," said Bra, walking over to the door. "I've got so much to do tonight, soooo much to do," she said before exiting the room. 

"Um… right," said Pan, slowly following with Trunks. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Bulma yawned and fanned her mouth with a hand. She was already dressed for the night in a long gown, her robe over it and fluffy warm slippers as she walked down the hall to her lab. 

"He won't still be…" she whispered softly, pushing the door in. She was greatly surprised to see that, yes indeed her husband was still sitting in front of the computer. Only he wasn't looking at the screen, he had his face down looking at the notepad as his hand moved across it. 

"Vegeta?" she called, slowly walking into the room. She went over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Vegeta, it's really late, come to bed." 

Vegeta grunted. "I will in a few minutes, I'm almost done." 

"Have you been in here this whole time?" asked Bulma with some shock. She glanced at the clock on the wall-damn, that was close to 12 hours! 

"Yup," said Vegeta. He put down the pencil and leaned back. "Done." 

Bulma picked up the notepad and looked at it. She was very surprised at the detail and design of the characters she saw. She was even more surprised as she read the short comments Vegeta had written beside the characters. They stated what each meant, how they were pronounced, and small steps about how each letter was draw, which stroke you started and ended with, just like Japanese kanji, hiragana, and katakana. "Vegeta… you did all of this already?" she breathed in shock. She lifted through the pages-it was like a book! "You didn't have to do all this, you could have just translated the short story," said Bulma, gawking at him. 

"Then I wouldn't get to see you with your mouth open like a fish out of water," smirked Vegeta. "Translating that won't have worked. The book's too based on Earth life and what not. There are lots of things like animals and objects that are only found here on this planet. So I just wrote the alphabet and the characters for all the words." 

"All the words?" said Bulma, with wide eyes. 

"Well, all that I can remember. There are about 6,000 for that system. I could only remember around 5,500; I'm a little rusty." He raised his eyebrow at her again as she stared at him with open mouth. 

"You memorized that many characters?" 

"What, your own language has several thousand kanji! You Japanese spend years learning it all. Hell, you can't even read the damn newspaper till you're in high school." 

"That's way I'm so shocked," said Bulma. "How long have you been studying this one?" she asked, looking down at the neat print. 

Vegeta shrugged. "A year, I think." 

"Only a year?!" said Bulma. 

"I was bored," Vegeta replied offhandedly. "I learned this one when I was working for Freeza." he frowned slightly at the mention of the alien monster. "I didn't feel like just looking out into space and sleeping the whole time I was traveling from planet to planet, so I picked back up on classes I use to take on my planet." He leaned back and grinned at her. "To tell the truth I actually know bits and pieces of over 100 different languages from my travels, but most of it is curse words or phase like 'Now you die'." The prince smirked. 

Bulma got over her shock and snorted. "Figures." she said, crossing her arms. She'd already known that Vegeta was a fast learner, really fast. According to Trunks and everyone he could learn a new technique just by watching someone use it. Krillin told her Vegeta had learned his kienzen move when he first arrived on Earth to destroy it. He'd seen the Saiya-jin prince use it to cut off Gohan's tail when he'd turned Oozaru. Unfortunately for Vegeta and fortunately for earth, in doing so, he'd put himself in position to be squished by the young demi-Saiya-jin who hadn't changed back fast enough. Still, she was impressed with the speed he'd done all that work, and she smiled at him. "Well, since I know you can get a lot of work done fast I guess I can be expecting those other notes of alien tongue within the week." 

"I told you, woman, I'm not one of your assistants," said Vegeta, getting up. "Beside, I've already done them." He commented carelessly, putting his hand down a stack of notepads. Bulma's eyes nearly rolled out of her head. "You know me, I'm a perfectionist." he smirked. "And now that I've done your little task, you get to make it up to me," 

He walked over to her and threw her over his shoulder. "And since I didn't get to do my daily workout, you'll have to deal with me not even the least bit tired. I need to get my blood going and stretch," he said with another of his trademark smirks, dragging her off. 

"My Kami, you're an animal," said Bulma over his shoulder, but she was grinning her self. 

"Woman, you have no idea." Vegeta replied evilly, leaving the lab. 


	7. Chapter 6: The Birds and the Bees A Name...

War of Worlds 

Chapter 6: The Birds and the Bees; A Namek Sei-jin's Pride is His Antennas…?   
  
"Lady Kijo, where are you going?!" demanded Doc. Mono angrily. 

"I'm going shopping," said the demoness with a sly smile. 

"Like hell you are! You're going to investigate the Saiya-jins!" 

"Maybe I'll do a little of that as well," smiled Kijo. They were in a docking bay before them was a small shuttle designed for only one person. 

"I demand that you take me with you! I can't study my subjects all the bloody way up here!" growled the doctor turning red in the face with anger. 

"Perhaps another time," said the demoness flipping her long green hair. 

"Lady Kijo!" screamed the doctor. 

"You forget your place good doctor," said Kijo turning to glare at him her eyes flashed purple in a frightful way. The doctor backed up. She smiled again and gave him her back. "Remain on the ship that is my order, good doctor. Vegeta is mine keep your hands off him," she said walking into the small shuttle. 

The doctor could only glare at her back. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Pan landed lightly on the lawn outside of Krillin's dojo. 

"Pan!" shouted Marron, running over to her. "Oh, thank Kami! You're late, we were waiting for you!" she shouted again, grabbing Pan's arm and pulling her around the building. 

"I'm not that late, am I?" asked Pan, nearly tripping over her own feet in their haste. 

"I was planning on flying there at a nice slow pace so we'd be well rested and not sweaty, but you had to have lead feet!" snapped the blond. 

"Sorry!" said Pan as they rounded the corner and saw the rest of the group waiting. 

"Alright, she's here, let's go!" shouted Marron, jumping into the air and dragging the unprepared Pan along. 

They flew in silence, each carrying their own bag containing their weapons and gi until Marron spoke up. 

"Okay, listen up, everyone, no cursing, no eating, no drinking, no chewing gum, you have to bow to show your respect to anyone that's first degree black belt or up, bow to the lower ranks as well just to make a good impression. These people are expecting a lot from me, so don't mess it up." Marron instructed tensely. 

Trunks and Pan exchanged looks-boy, was Marron nervous! What was she so nervous about?! Her skill and kata were perfect! 

"Marron, calm down you're going to give yourself gray hair," said Pan. 

"I am calm!" shouted Marron, increasing her speed and forcing the others to do likewise. 

The rest of the trip was spent in silence with everyone wondering about the tournament and Marron's behavior. It didn't take them long to get to the designated gym for the tournament. When they landed, Marron breathed a relieved sigh as she looked at her watch. "Good, made it with time to spare. Okay, let's get geared up!" she said with lots of energy. 

"Hi!" called out a familiar perky voice. 

"It can't be," moaned Base, looking over his shoulder to see a smiling Bra. In a flash, the girl was gone and their bags disappeared. 

"Bra! What are you doing, come back with those!" she shouted. The blue haired demi-Saiya-jin laughed and ran off. Marron tried to catch her, but Bra was long gone. 

"Oh no! Oh no! My chucks! My gi! Bra!!!!" she screamed in rage. 

"Calm down, Marron," said Goten, going over and patting her shoulder. 

"I can't go in there like this!" shouted Marron, pulling on her green t-shirt. "Ohhhh, what am I going to do?!" 

The others watched as the blond had a panic attack, which was strange since she was normally a very calm and relaxed person. Of course, Bra did seem to know how to push her buttons. 

"Marron! Catch!" shouted that same familiar voice right before Marron's duffel bag flew into her waiting arms. 

Marron looked up to see a smiling Bra with all their bags over her shoulder. 

"Pan, Base, Goten, and Trunks," she said, tossing them their bags. 

"What have you done?" asked Base in a far too suspicious voice. 

Bra grinned. "Doing my part as part of Team Kame!" chirped Bra with a big grin. "I've got some surprises for you all," she said. 

"That sinking feeling is back," muttered Base. 

"I've got an extra surprise for you, Base-kun," said Bra with a wink. Base looked less then thrilled. 

"You'd better hurry and get changed!" Bra yelled happily, going behind Pan and Marron and pushing them toward the women's dressing room. "See you guys later!" she shouted before disappearing into the room with Pan and Marron. 

The two guys and the Namek sei-jin exchanged looks. Goten held up his bag and unzipped it. "What's this?"   
  
  
"Bra, I'll never understand you," said Pan, taking off her shoes. 

"I like to work in mysterious ways," said Bra, sitting down on the bathroom counter. 

Marron pulled off her shirt and zipped open her bag. She changed into a blue sports bra that was laid out on top then reached in for the rest. "What the-Bra!" shouted the blond, holding up an orange top. "What did you do to my gi!" she cried. 

Sure enough, the shirt wasn't the familiar orange gi top that the Kame school was so well known for. It was a much nicer cut, sleeveless and still loose to allow completely free movement. The collar went up high on the throat and was held together with a brass button. The chest of the shirt was much different; a square was cut out of it that would no doubt show some nice bits of cleavage on a shapely female frame, and the whole thing was trimmed in blue. The logo was still shown on the front in a small patch and the back as a much larger version. 

"You like it?! I designed them myself," grinned Bra, jumping down from the counter. "I paid a pretty penny to have them made in a rush, too. Look at he rest," said the blue haired demi-Saiya-jin, pulling out a blue sash, typical orange gi pants, bikini cut blue underwear, blue arm bands, and black flexible slip-on shoes. "I made sure they won't hinder your movements at all. Now you'll leave a lasting impression in more then just your kata as a woman that's got style!" she beamed. 

"Bra, how could you, I can't wear this," said Marron, looking upset. "How am I going to make my father proud of me in his out fit? Sure it still follows the dress code, but Bra… it's too fancy!" 

"Nonsense," said Bra, waving her hand at her and going over to slip the shirt over her head. "It's the same colors and the same basic cut, only altered to show just what a beautiful woman you are," said Bra, buttoning the top button. "And when you show a little spirit in those blue eyes of yours, they'll see what I do." 

Marron looked to the side, still looking upset with Bra's present. 

"Trust me, Marron. I'm not in any fighting school, but I know what gets the crowd going. You can thank me later," she said, patting her shoulder and handing Marron her pants. Marron silently began donning her outfit. 

"Bra, are you sure it's wise to do this?" asked Pan, looking at Marron. "Marron's really nervous as it is for some reason." 

"I know," said Bra. "And being who she is, I'm not surprised." 

"What do you mean?" asked Pan, confused. 

"You'll see, come on, Pan, time's a wasting!" Bra chirped. 

"Right," said Pan. She opened her bag and the first thing she spotted was the blue bra sitting on top. She pulled it out and blinked at it. "Hey! How come you gave Marron a sports bra and me a wonder bra!" demanded Pan. 

"Because Marron needs the support and you need the umph." 

"Umph…" Pan repeated ruefully she rubbed her forehead. "I should have known after that talk with you in the car about matching underwear." 

Bra only smiled brightly. "They don't call me Bra for nothing, you know." 

They both turned around as Marron finished tying her sash around her waist. 

"Wow… Marron, you look great in that," said Pan in awe. Marron looked both cute and sexy, a hard to get mix. 

"You think so?" asked Marron softly. 

"You bet, I'm sure Goten will love it as well. Bra's right, that really does get your attention." 

A small smile graced Marron's lips before that worried nervous one returned. She shook her head and went back to a calm neutral look. "So what do the guys' look like?" asked Marron. 

"Pretty much the same, only without the open front. Oh, and the underwear, of course," she winked. She walked over to Marron and pulled two squares of cloth out of her pocket as well as several lengths of ribbons. Without a word she started brushing one of Marron's pigtails with her fingers and twisting it up into a bun. 

"You picked out underwear from them…" said Pan. "What kind?" 

Marron and Pan looked at the blue haired demi-Saiya-jin with curiosity. Bra pulled Marron's head back to straighten it so she could tie one of the blue cloths around the bun and hold it in place with some of the ribbons. 

Bra laughed. "The kind they normally wear." She cleared her throat. "My brother is, of course, a boxer man. Goten, being raised by such a clean and devoted mother is a 'whitey tighty', and Base," she smiled wickedly. "Our dear Namek sei-jin friend is a 'free to the breeze' kind of guy." 

The two girls blinked large eyes at her. "How do you know?!" they both shouted at once. 

"I can tell," said Bra, going over to Marron's other side to do the other tail. She finished and stood back to admire her work. "Perfect," she grinned. "I love my work. You'd make a great Barbie doll, Marron." 

Marron managed a small smile. "Why are you always so fascinated by my looks? You freak me out sometimes." 

"Don't worry, Marron, you know I've got the hots for Uub-chan," she winked, making Marron blush. "It's just that you're blond haired and blue-eyed; I bet Juuhachi was an American. You stand out a lot more then Pan here," said Bra, pointing a thumb in Pan's direction as the girl finished tying her sash. 

"Well, sorry for looking like the typical Japanese girl," snapped Pan, crossing her arms. 

"You're forgiven," smiled Bra in a teasing matter. 

"Why you!" said Pan in a threatening, also teasing, matter. 

Bra laughed and ran to the door, tucking her own duffel bag under arm. "I've got to go, we'll be cheering you on and I've still got a nice surprise for you all," shouted Bra before running from the room. 

"We?" said Marron in confusion. 

"She's up to something," said Pan. 

Marron nodded in agreement. "Well, let's go met the guys and pay our respects." The two girls walked out of the room and into the gym to see it was packed full of martial artists from schools from every corner of the globe. 

"Wow," said Pan. "Look at all these people," she breathed in awe, looking around. 

"Some of the finest masters ever to live," said Marron. She bowed low to one ancient looking man who did likewise. 

"Marron Chestnut," smiled the old master, walking over to her. 

"Master Fudo," said Marron with respect. 

"I'm so pleased to see the daughter of Master Krillin here. I'm looking forward to seeing you and your team perform today." 

"Thanks you," said Marron politely. "Please excuse me, Sensei, I need to find my team," before they get into trouble, Marron added silently. 

"Ahh, yes," nodded the master. "I understand, we should speak again, it is always a pleasure to see such youths so devoted to the arts and I have heard wonderful things about you and your school." 

"Thank you," smiled Marron, bowing low. "We must indeed speak again," she added quickly, before turning to leave. 

Pan was starting to figure out why Marron was so nervous as they continued to run into famous and well know masters all over the gym looking for the boys. It appeared that Krillin had not only made a name for his school but a quite famous name for himself. He was talked about with only the highest respect. Pan was in awe of the fame the little ex-monk had created for himself-who would have thought such as happy-go-luck guy like Krillin would be considered one of the most respected men of their art. Of course, Krillin was a master, considered the strongest 'human' on the planet till age started to catch up and Marron started displaying incredible skill. Krillin had been nothing but encouraging and proud of his only daughter's skills. He couldn't care less that she had surpassed him, it only seemed to make him prouder. Pan's respect for her blond friend started to climb as well as master after master spoke so respectfully and kindly to her. 

"My Kami Marron, they treat you like a master yourself," said Pan. 

"Actually Pan, I am one," said Marron. "I've already proven my skills in many tournaments; this is the first one I've gone to without my father, though," she smiled nervously at her friend. "I have to admit it is a lot easier with dad here handling all the compliments and chit chat." 

Pan smiled. "You can handle a dozen top fighters without breaking a sweat, but you turn into a nervous wreak when having to deal with some old man who only want to tell you how impressed they are," she laughed softly at that. 

"Oh be quiet," laughed Marron, starting to relax but still looking a little uptight. "I wasn't born in the spot light, like you were Mister Satan's granddaughter." 

"You're just too modest, Marron," said Pan, lifting her head and smiling brightly as she finally spotted a familiar raven-haired, purple haired, and green boy standing together. "There they are!" 

"Ah good, I was starting to think they'd gotten lost or something," said Marron as they started towards the group. As they walked Marron started to blush and Pan glanced up at her, seeing it and blinked. 

"What's wrong, Marron?" she asked. 

"Nothing… I just can't get the thought of Goten in his underwear out of my head for some reason. Grrrr, I'll get you Bra," said Marron, slapping herself lightly on the face to try and get it back to normal. 

To her side, Pan giggled and looked at Trunks. Soon her face turned red as well as the same thought popped into her head. Both girls shook their heads to try and clear the images, walking up to the group of three. They were all dressed in Bra's new gi: sleeveless high-collar orange tops, with dark blue trim and brass buttons. Blue sashes and armbands, orange gi pants, and black shoes. The whole outfit gave them a broad shouldered, slender waisted, long legged look that wasn't hard on the eyes at all; in fact, they looked down right good. The only difference in each of their gear was Base had on a blue bandanna over his bald green head and Trunks had a headband across his forehead to keep his long hair out of his face. 

It took Pan a moment to realized that they were all staring at each other; (well, except Base, who couldn't care less) no doubt the guys liked what they saw as well. Feeling a little shy, Pan tugged on the low cut of her shirt, trying to get it to cover just a little more than it was. That caused a blush to spread on Trunks' cheeks and he quietly turned to the side trying to hide it, but failing miserably. Goten, on the other hand seemed to have turned into a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Pan had the impression that if she walked over to him and give him a little push he'd simple fall over and remain frozen in that position like a statue. 

"Um well um…you two look… nice," said Trunks, still looking to the side. 

"Um… yah…," said Goten. "Really nice," he added almost zombie-like, nodding his head rapidly. 

"Bra's doing," said Marron, managing to once again sound like her calm collective self. 

"Really," said Goten, starting to recover as well. "Gee, I'm surprised we all didn't end up in leather or something then," he laughed. 

To Marron's side, Pan choked, remembering the little sketch she'd spied in Bra's notepad. If only you knew, Goten, just how close to the truth you are she thought, wincing at the errant blush that crept across her cheeks at the memory. 

An announcer's voice was projected across the room and as the first school was called up to begin their katas, the Z teens eagerly went to crowd around the floor to watch. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Vegeta was walking down the street wearing tight black jeans ripped at the knees, a loose red tank tucked into them, black leather boots, bike gloves, and his black leather jacket. He'd promised his mate that he'd met her for lunch at some new restaurant near the shopping district. He was all for expensive dining and food, but he hated having to put up with the waiters, other restaurant customers, and waiting forever for them to bring the food out. Really, was it 'that' hard to prepare 100 helpings of some dish? Sometimes he thought it was more trouble then it was worth, but Bulma really liked these dinner dates and he truly did like the change from the not-so wonderful food created by Bulma's machines or herself. Of course, Bulma's mother could sure cook a good meal, but she was getting old and slow. 

Vegeta paused, his back straightening suddenly as a feeling washed over him-like he was being watched. Without turning his head, he glanced to the sides as he continued to walk. All he could see were lots of people going around shopping. Of course, a fair amount of them were looking and pointing at him, talking in quiet voices. They probably recognized who he was from the news, he was pretty sure it was the hair that gave him away. Of course, many young punks seemed to be trying to copy his trademark hairstyle. Stupid humans, he thought, still looking around. It wasn't so much that he was being watched; he knew he was. More like some eerie force was looking at him with curiosity; he didn't like that feeling at all. Nothing happened though, and he began to think it was just his nerves strung too tight. 

Lady Kijo smiled through the window as she watched the Saiya-jin strut down the street, looking carefully around. He sensed her, his warrior instincts were quite impressive, but of course she looked just like any other human walking around and doing their shopping. Smiling, she lifted a blouse to her front, looking to see if it was her size. Deciding she didn't like the blouse that much she put it back on the rack and picked up several shopping bags. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Doctor Mono she was going shopping. She left the store and followed Vegeta silently, keeping out of eyesight, simply following his strong alien ki. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Vegeta entered the restaurant Bulma had told him to meet her at. "Briefs," he said simply to the desk clerk that gave him a look, then frowned. Obviously the man thought Vegeta was some kind of low life with his torn jeans and leather outfit. 

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't seem to have your reservation in here," said the clerk, pretending to look over the list. 

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at the man. "It's there," he said. 

"I think you should leave, sir," said the clerk, snapping his fingers. Two giant men in tuxedos walked up to stand on either side of the clerk looking smug. "Or I'll have you removed." 

Vegeta frowned darker at the man and the clerk motioned with his hand for the two to throw him out. The two men grabbed a hold of Vegeta's clothes and pulled. The Saiya-jin didn't budge from his place as if he was routed to the floor. The two pulled harder and began to push on Vegeta's solid form, but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't move him an inch. Vegeta just stood there glaring at the clerk with hard black eyes, hands in pockets. "I suggest you look again," he said in a cold voice. 

The clerk swallowed hard, looking more then a little unnerved. Behind Vegeta, the couple waiting in line for a table began to whisper. 

"It's him, look." 

"It can't be him, he probably just looks like him." 

"No, I heard people whispering about seeing him as we walked by, it's got to be him." 

The woman's curiosity got the better of her and before her husband could protest, she grabbed the back of Vegeta's jacket and lifted it up, revealing a very nicely shaped backside and a furry brown length wrapped around his waist. 

"My Kami-sama! It is him, it's that alien prince!" said her husband, stepping back from Vegeta. 

The clerk's eyes nearly popped out of his head; of course, he knew who they were talking about, he'd have to have been locked up in a bomb shelter or something for the last couple months not to know. 

The woman immediately got big eyes that seemed to say 'I want I want' as she moved closer. "You can share a seat with me," she all but purred. What do you expect when you just happened upon a rich, famous, drop dead sexy prince by chance? 

Vegeta ignored her and continued to look at the clerk coldly. "Briefs," he said again in a slightly annoyed voice. 

"R-right! Right away, sir!" said the unnerved clerk, making wild shooing gesture at the two guards. He grabbed some menus and started towards a table for two, Vegeta following him. The woman looked more than disappointed as the vision of every girl's dream left without so much as a look at her. Her husband was less then thrilled with his wife's reactions. 

Vegeta sat down and folded his arms looking quite bored. 

"Um… w-would you like s-something to drinks… sir?" asked the clerk. 

"Beer," said Vegeta not even looking at him. 

"What kind, sir? We've got quite a selection: draft, dark, light, imported from Germany, Sweden…" the clerk stopped as Vegeta turned to glare at him again with annoyed eyes. 

"Beer," repeated Vegeta. 

"R-right!" stammered the clerk, running to go get the drink. 

Vegeta sighed and looked at his watch, wishing he hadn't gotten here before his mate. Yes, this might be more trouble then it was worth. 

Lady Kijo watched in amusement from a table not far away as the panicked clerk ran out with a beer for the Saiya-jin prince. 

"Miss, what would you like to drink?" asked a young waiter. 

"Wine, red," she purred softly, making the man shiver violently as she ran a nail over the skin of his arm making the hair rise there. "The best in the house," she said, leaning back. "And one for the gentleman over there," she added, lazily gesturing at Vegeta. 

"Um…" blushed the waiter, taking it down. "Yes, miss," he said, leaving to fill the order. 

Vegeta raised an eyebrow as a young waiter set a delicate glass full of red liquid in front of him. 

"From the lady," said the man, gesturing at a woman with haunting purple eyes and long dark green hair. She smiled at him and raised her own glass of red wine as if to toast him before drinking it down in one swallow. 

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at her; here it was again, that feeling of being watched. 

"Sorry I'm late," said Bulma, causing Vegeta to snap his head over to look at her. "I lost track of the time talking to Juuhachi up in space. She's just finished getting another ship load of alien scrap and now she's preparing to set up the first satellite," said Bulma, sitting across from him. 

Vegeta turned his head back to look for the green haired woman again, but she was gone; vanished! The only thing to prove that she'd been there was the empty wineglass. He frowned at the table she'd been seated at. 

"Oh hey! You ordered me some red wine, how thoughtful of you," said Bulma, leaning over the table to kiss him on the check and take the glass. She sat back down, took a sip, put the glass down, then opened up her menu. "So what sounds good to you?" 

Vegeta shook his head. Whoever that girl was, she was gone and he could feel no high ki around. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He looked down at his menu, deciding to dismiss her as just another stupid human girl that wanted to get his attention. 

Lady Kijo smiled as she looked through the restaurant's window at the couple. "Too bad, it looks like he's got himself a woman he's devoted to already. What a shame, I like his looks even more in person. Oh well," she said, starting to walk down the street. "I guess I'll have to go about recruiting him in a more formal matter. It would have been much funnier to do it my usual way." she grinned, looking over her shoulder in the direction of the restaurant. "Soon, my Lord Lucifer will hold your leash, Saiya-jin prince." She laughed softly as she walked down the street. "Better enjoy your freedom while it lasts." 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Doctor Mono grinned widely to himself. "There you are, demi-Saiya-jin," he said, looking at the screen before him. It'd taken him hours to find them, it appeared they were many miles away from the Capsule Corps building he'd expected to find them around. Even with his high tech machinery, the large island they were on was so populated it was ridiculous. 

It appeared that the son of the Saiya-jin prince was at some kind of tournament. Everyone was dressed up in loose fitting matching outfits, mostly black and white; which worked great for him, since his subject was dressed in bright orange and blue. 

"I suppose that the others wearing the same clothes are acquaintances of his, hmmm," he said, looking at Goten. "That boy, could he also be a Saiya-jin, he's got lots of the classic characteristics of them. Sharp features, strong tall build, thick black hair…" As he said this he began to type on the control panel he was looking over. The microcomputers that were monitoring the group zoomed in on Goten, who was smiling widely at a cute blond talking to him about the kata they were watching. The machines began a silent scan checking Goten's genetic material. 

The doctor's face brightened, then fell as he read the output. Yes, the boy had Saiya-jin blood, but he also had human blood to-he was another demi-Saiya-jin like Vegeta's offspring. Doc Mono cursed. "Not a pure breed, just another demi-Saiya-jin mongrel," he looked at the output again and a thoughtful look crossed his face as he commanded the computer to display another reading. "Bio reading says that he's not related to the purple haired one, which would mean…" The doctor smiled again. "There might be another Saiya-jin on this planet somewhere. I'll have to look for it without the demon bitch knowing, she'll most certainly try and get it as well if its ever on this planet any more." He leaned back in his chair and looked at the other members of the group. "Better check to see if any of the others have Saiya-jin blood…hmm, probably not the blond, but the other girl maybe," he muttered, typing in the order. He was less than thrilled with what he got-the raven-haired girl was Saiya-jin, but by only a quarter. The blond was human. "I hate this," grumbled the doctor. "I hate relaying on these pathetic machines. I want to cut them open, and see just what makes them run with my own hands." he smiled widely and patted the screen that displayed Goten laughing again with Marron. "It might be interesting to see the inside of a demi-Saiya-jin, especially this one. He appears more Saiya-jin like then the one with lavender hair." He frowned then. "If I can get permission from that alien bitch to do my research." 

The doctor went over the readout, glancing at the screen every now and then. He paused, fingers hovering over the keys, when a creature that was definitely not human walked into the field of vision of one mini cameras and stood next to the purple haired demi-Saiya-jin. "A Namek sei-jin?!" said the doctor in pure shock, standing up so fast he knocked over his chair. "How?" he exclaimed, typing at the computer. "How can there be a Namek sei-jin on this planet? Could he be one of the few that survived the disaster that occurred on their home world by escaping into space? (that's how Piccolo came to earth. Planet Namek had some kind of terrible disaster and a young Piccolo, the first Piccolo and Kami before separating, escaped it by taking a Namek ship and landing on earth. Supposedly the only Namek sei-jin to survive the disaster on Namek was Guru and he reproduced the other Namek sei-jins that were on the planet in the Freeza saga.) I haven't seen one in years-I thought they'd all died out by now, so few of them left… Of course, it only takes one to reproduce a decent sized population, but still, didn't Lord Lucifer order them to all be destroyed?" he looked at Base as the young Namek sei-jin, with a focused expression on his face, watched the students perform kata. 

The doctor suddenly got a wicked look on his face. "The lady never said anything about any Namek sei-jins," he grinned. "And the only one I ever got to study was a mere hatchling. This one looks fully mature." The screen flashed to display images of Base at different angles. "Yes, I'll just tranquilize this one and have a team go down and get him for me." He leaned over the keyboard and gave the command. "There's no escape for you, Namek sei-jin. Soon you and me will have true heartfelt moment together." He laughed loudly at that and looked back up at the one screen that showed the whole group sitting down together. "And then," said doctor, once again touching the screen. "Then maybe I'll get to see you, my little demi-Saiya-jin genie pig," the doctor laughed, tapping his finger on Goten's image. 

"Ah-ah-achoo!" said Goten, covering his mouth. 

"You're not catching a cold, are you?" asked Marron in concern. 

"Nah, I must have just breathed in some dust or something," Goten said with a smile. 

"I'm getting excited, it's almost our turn," said Pan, getting a little jumpy. 

"You nervous at all, Base?" asked Goten, rubbing him in the ribs. "We all know how anti-social and shy you can be." 

"I think you're mistaking me for someone else," said Base in a mellow tone. "I'm not so easily spooked." 

"Base-kun!!!" shouted a voice from across the room. 

Base's eyes widened and he snapped his head in the direction the cry had come. No one noticed the tiny flash that buzzed by his forehead as the micro machines Doctor Mono had been using fired and missed its mark just barely, due to the Namek sei-jin's shift in position. Well, it hadn't completely missed… although, no one seemed to notice that something was now out of place with Base, not even the Namek sei-jin himself. Of course, what could be expected when an overjoyed girl with three eyes and long curly black hair sitting on his lap was squeezing him to death? 

"Almuerzo…" wheezed Base with wide eyes, looking at the girl who was crushing him slowly in a bear hug. 

"Base-kun! Oh, it's been so long! I've missed you soooo much!" Almuerzo squealed happily. 

"Almuerzo? I can't believe it. What are you doing here?" asked Trunks, truly happy to see her after so long an absence. 

The girl grinned and lifted one hand to point at the blue-haired girl that was now standing behind them. All turned to see Bra. 

"Hi," smiled Bra. "Do you like my surprise, Base-kun?" she said in a teasing manner, using the kun that Almuerzo stamped on him. 

The Namek sei-jin was obviously unnerved by the girl who was happily cuddling him like a big green teddy bear. 

"Oh Base, you sly dog you," said Goten, grinning widely at him. "I didn't know you and Almuerzo were…" he winked at the Namek sei-jin. 

"What are you talking about?! I'm a Namek sei-jin!" protested Base. "I have no need for a female partner!" 

"No need, that doesn't mean you can't," Goten winked at him again. 

The Namek sei-jin looked at him, dumb founded. 

"Will the first member of the Kame style please enter to perform their kata," a clear voice called out. 

Almuerzo found her comfy green cushion suddenly gone, as Base seemed to dematerialize out from under to her to hurry over to the clear square of floor left for the students to do their kata. 

"I'll go first!" he shouted, not even looking over his shoulder as he all but ran away. 

"Ah, Base-kun, you always seem to be in such a hurry whenever I find you," Almuerzo smiled, sitting back up and turning to looking at the green man as he reached the square and breathed in deeply to calm himself down. 

"Bra," said Pan in a slightly chiding voice, turning to look up at the blue haired demi-Saiya-jin. "Don't you feel even a little bad about doing that to him? You know he's a Namek sei-jin. Why won't you explain that to Almuerzo?" 

"Because that would ruin my fun," Bra smiled. 

Pan sighed and turned back to watch Base. 

Doctor Mono cursed colorfully as he watch the Namek sei-jin flee. Damn! That stupid girl had ruined his first attempt to tranquilize him. Well, he'd just have to make sure that there was no way he could dodge his second attempt. He began typing at the computer, telling all the micro machines to take aim at the Namek sei-jin. 

Base finally got his breathing back under control. Why did that silly girl have to be so familiar with him?! It really freaked him out, so touchy and feely, eek. He pulled out his caimans and got into his starting stance, his brows turned down some, something felt off…. Out of place, missing? He glanced down at himself to see if he could spot something wrong, but nothing seemed off. Hmm, maybe it's just my imagination or I'm still unnerved by that woman. He glanced over at Almuerzo, who was waving at him, and sweat dropped. Got to be the girl, he thought, breathing in a deeply, feeling kind of awkward for some reason. He bowed and began his kata. He at once noticed that something was off-his balance! 

Marron and her group watched in a mix of awe and shock as Base started his kata. It was completely different from the one he'd been practicing-faster, and had some wild turns and twists to it that were just mind boggling in the complexity of the moves. His movements were so hard to read that it was impossible to tell what his next attack would be. 

"You know, it kind of looks like Base is a little out of control," said Bra, scratching the side of her face. "I mean, his style was always so smooth and he didn't move so fast the last time I saw him practice." 

"I know what you mean…it kind of looks like he's lost his balance on one side and is just able to recover fast enough to turn it into another move before we can see it." 

"Huh?" said everyone leaning forward to see for themselves. Marron had no idea just how right on she was. 

Shit! Woe! Eeee! Thought Base as he fought to stay on his feet and continue to look like he knew what he was doing; but in truth, something was terribly wrong with him. His sense of balance had been turned upside down and he had little to no control over it. Just the fact that he was such a good fighter and could turn just about any move into a block or attack was the only thing keeping him from falling on his ass. 

What's wrong with me?! Base thought. 

Doctor Mono's mouth dropped in shock as the Namek sei-jin some how managed to deflect everyone of the darts aimed at him with those metal blades of his, twisting and turning so that it was impossible for his micro machines to get a lock on him. 

"I don't believe it!" the doctor screamed in a rage, pounding his fists on the computer. "How?! How could he possible sense them?! Even if he could how could he possible be able to dodge them all! It's insane, mind numbing, is he some kind of freak genius or something!?" 

The doctor could only stand with mouth open as the Namek sei-jin started destroying his machines. How could he do that?! He shouldn't have been able to even see them, they didn't even have ki! He screamed, turning red in the face as the last of the micro machines was sliced in half by one of the metal blades the Namek sei-jin was swinging. 

Base finally managed to end the insanity of his movements and stood up straight, sweat dropping as he realized he need to bow, but how was he going to do that without falling on his face?! 

"Hmm," said Almuerzo, looking down at something on the floor. She blinked her green eyes at it and picked it up. 

"Oi, Base-kun! You dropped your antenna?!" she shouted, holding up the little green appendage and pointing at it. 

"Ahhhhh!!!" Base screamed in sudden panic, tossing his caimans, the thought of bowing totally gone from his mind at he reached up with one hand and felt that yes indeed, one of his antenna was gone. How, he had no idea, but it was definitely gone! 

Several people eeked and dove out of the way of the two flying Caimans and stared in shock as the green man swayed around on his feet, slapping his forehead in a panicked way. 

Base stumbled over in an off-balanced fashion to Almuerzo, and promptly tripped and fell right on her. 

"How could you do that!" shouted the Namek sei-jin, unaware of the interesting picture they made. "Don't you know you should never! Never! EVER! Touch a Namek sei-jin's antenna!" he shouted down at the girl that was smiling up at him. 

"I didn't do it, I found it," Almuerzo smiled. She reached up with one hand and played with the other antenna. 

Base shivered violently at the light touch, eyelids dropping slightly in pleasure. He ran his tongue over his upper lip as he gazed down at Almuerzo like she was something yummy. 

"That feel good?" asked Almuerzo, smiling happily. 

Base snapped his head out of her reach upon hearing her voice, and then realized the way they looked. He flailed his limbs rolling off Almuerzo, to crawl away from her and then sat down hard on his rear. 

"I told you, don't touch the antennas!" shouted the apparently enraged Namek sei-jin. 

Privately, Goten thought it reminded him of whenever girls thought he was doing something perverted when he wasn't. 

Laughing softly, Trunks got up. "I'll go next, guys," he said, unsheathing his sword and walking out to the center of the room. 

"Base? What's so important about those antenna, anyway?" asked Marron. 

"Yah, and why did you freak out when Almuerzo touched them, it looked like it was fun," smiled Goten, perhaps unaware of how odd that sounded. 

Base got a blank look on his face then coughed, turning his face to the side. "Well… they're really hard to grow back… and their kind of important, uh…" said Base, looking extremely uncomfortable. 

"Important for what?" asked Bra. 

"Well, balance and…" 

"And?" asked everyone in unison. 

Base blushed. "And none of your business!" he shouted. 

"Now I really want to know what they're for," said Bra, staring at the one remaining antenna. 

"Want me to find you some super glue, Base-kun?" asked Almuerzo, still holding the missing antenna. 

"No!" shouted Base, snatching it from her. He frowned, looking up as he tried to concentrate and regrow the limb. 

"So what else do they do, besides keep your balance and look cool in a breeze?" asked Bra. 

"Shut up," growled Base. 

"But I want to know," said Bra. 

"No," said Base, brows forking downwards more. 

"Please!" 

"No." 

"Please!" 

"NO!" 

"Please!" 

"Damn it, woman, I'm trying to regrow a piece of myself here and you're not helping!" barked Base, a vain sticking out on his forehead. 

Bra fished in her purse and pulled out a tube of super glue. "I'm always prepared to help you out!" she grinned in a teasing manner. 

Base growled and made a grab for her, but only ended up falling on his face with his lack of coordination. 

Bra knelt down and poked at Base. "Ne, Base tell me, what are they're for?" she asked curiously, poking him again. "Or I'll glue your head to the floor," she threatened when she saw his reluctance, waving the glue. 

"You wouldn't dare," Base said, looking up at her from his tangled heap. 

Bra grinned wider at him, showing her pearly whites, which gleamed. 

Base paled and scooted away from her. "You're insane." 

Bra uncapped the glue. 

"Okay! They're for attracting a partner! There, you happy!" shouted Base, waving this hands at Bra to keep her away with the glue. 

"So they're kind of like the crest of a bird?" said Bra. 

"You might say that," said Base, sitting back up. 

"Wait a minute! A partner?!" said Marron. "But I thought Namek sei-jins were asexual!" 

"We are… kind of," said Base. 

Everyone stared at him giving him a look that said 'go on.' They didn't even notice that Trunks had already finished his kata and was now standing over them, wondering what was going on. 

"Hey, one of you need to go up and do your kata now," said Trunks. 

"Goten, you go up," said Marron. 

"But I want to know if Base is asexual or not!" said Goten. 

"What?!" said Trunks, taking a step back. Gee, what had he missed…?! 

"I'm the sensei, remember, we'll tell you when you get back." 

"Ah," said Goten, disappointedly getting up and leaving to begin his kata. 

"So Base, spill it, just what are you?" asked Bra. 

"Is this really any of your business?" demanded Base. 

Bra moved towards him, glue tube held firmly in one hand. 

"Ahh, go away!" Base growled, pawing at the air to keep Bra at bay. "Okay! We are asexual, but we can also combine our genetic material with another to pass desired traits to our offspring." 

"How?" asked Trunks. "I mean, there are no girl Namek sei-jins, are there?" 

Base sighed loudly. "No, we all pretty much have male type bodies, but if we take in DNA from something else we can mix genes. The species doesn't even have to be Namek sei-jin. According to Mr. Popo, the first Piccolo created several children to fight against Goku by combining his genetic make up with those of different types of dinosaurs (by this I'm talking about Piccolo Daimaoh and his minions Tambourine, Cymbal, etc. who do seem kind of dinosaur-like in appearance. These are all evil villains from the first series, Dragon Ball)." 

"You mean Piccolo and a dinosaur…." Pan blushed madly as a very disturbing picture popped in her head. 

"No!" shouted Base, easily guessing what she was thinking. "I said take in, not…eek," said Base, shaking his head in disgust. "A Namek sei-jin only needs to eat something to be able to mix his genes with it." 

"Eat something!" exclaimed Marron in shock. "Then why aren't you popping out all kinds of weird kids left and right?" 

"Baka!" growled Base. "I don't eat, I only drink fluids, remember…! It's not like I go around taking bites out of people." He added, looking faintly disgusted. 

"Oh yah," said Marron. 

Goten ran back then. "Done, someone else needs to go up, what did I miss?" asked Goten, sitting down next to Marron. 

"Oh, not much, just that Base only need to take a bite out of someone to have a kid with them," Trunks supplied offhandedly. 

"What?!" said Goten, looking at Base. He gulped and scooted away from the Namek sei-jin. 

"I'm not going to eat you!" snapped Base, frowning and crossing his arms. 

"Pan, you better go up." 

"No, I want to hear the rest of this," Pan protested. "You go up." 

"No, it's your turn," said Marron firmly. 

"But--" 

"No buts, Pan," said Bra, going over and dragging the quarter Saiya-jin up to her feet. "Off you go now, I'll tell you everything later." 

"Nuts!" said Pan running over to start her kata. 

"So Base how does that work, I mean I find it really odd, how you can ingest something and your offspring will have characteristics of what ever it is." 

"I don't digest," said Base. "I'm built very differently from you humans and Saiya-jins. I don't have a stomach, no need for one. The space where one should be is actually where my reproductive organs are, so when I swallow a form of genetic material it goes there to be broken down and used." 

"Wow, that's incredible!" said Bra. "I never realized how advanced your species was, Base. I mean you can reproduce asexually, regenerate your anatomy with ease, and your species can instantly evolve to adapt to any condition simply by merging your DNA with another that can already stand those conditions. Hell, you can even spilt and merge yourselves together to increase or decrease your knowledge and strength. If there were ever enough of you, your kind could take over the universe," said Bra, wonderingly. 

"Namek sei-jins are peaceful by nature, we have no such ambitions." 

"And a good thing for us that you don't," said Trunks. He shivered violently. "Imagine a mix between a Namek sei-jin and a Saiya-jin… so much strength combined with a Namek sei-jin's adaptability…." 

"That would be a big mistake," said Base. "Considering your race is aggressive by nature, Namek sei-jins might very well decide they should take over the universe if we mixed our DNA with Saiya-jin's." 

"Wow, it's a good thing you aren't interested in us in that way," Goten laughed, then sweat dropped, then laughed again rather nervously. 

"Of course not, Base is a ladies' man, aren't you, that's why he and Almuerzo make such a cute couple!" Bra grinned widely. 

"We're not a couple," snapped Base. 

"Ahh, don't say that, Base, you'll hurt Almuerzo's feelings," Goten warned teasingly in a low voice. Everyone looked over at the three-eyed girl to see her cheering Pan on. 

"Go Pan, you're the best, girlfriend! Yah!" she cheered, waving her arms. 

Everyone sweat dropped. 

"Um, Almuerzo?" said Trunks. 

"Huh?" said Almuerzo, looking over her shoulder at them. 

"Did you hear a word we said?" asked Trunks. 

"About what?" asked Almuerzo. 

"About Base," said Goten. 

"Oh yah," Almuerzo smiled. "You were talking about his antennas, right!" 

"Yah," said Marron. "But did you hear what they're for?" asked Marron. Everyone looked at her expectantly. 

"Hmm," said Almuerzo, tapping her chin with her fingertip as she pondered. She smiled brightly, all of a sudden. "They make him sexy, right?!" 

Everyone face faulted. 

"She didn't hear a thing," grumbled Base from the floor. 

"No," said Bra, nudging him. "She heard the part about them attracting a partner. Oooowww Base-kun!" Bra teased, draping herself over his shoulder. "They really work, Almuerzo thinks they're sexy," she sang. 

"Owww," groaned Base, slapping his face with his hand. "Only heard the part of the conversation that won't make her leave me alone," muttered Base. "Doesn't she understand it won't work?!" 

"Sure it will, Base, I'm sure Almuerzo won't mind you taking a bite out her-and it actually looked like you wanted to do the same a moment ago when she was playing with your antenna." Bra smirked gleefully. 

"That's just a reflex! Hey-!" Base protested as Bra's rather selective hearing kicked in again and she jumped up. 

"Oh Almuerzo!" Bra almost squealed, running over to the three-eyed girl and hugging her. "You're so lucky to have found a guy that can do all the hard labor stuff for you!" beamed Bra. 

"Huh?" said Almuerzo. 

"Oh, my brain hurts," Base whined to himself. "Why can't I make her shut up, why?!" he asked the air. 

Pan came walking back to the group then. "Marron, you're up," she said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder to the clear floor. 

"Right," Marron smiled, getting up and gripping her chucks. "Remember to come out and bow with me when I finish, just like we practiced," Marron added as she walked gracefully to the center of the room. 

"Almuerzo," said Bra, motioning with a tilt of her head. "Sorry, Base, I need to borrow your girlfriend." 

"She's not my girlfriend," said Base, glaring at her. 

Bra only smiled and waved her hand at him. "Just concentrate on regrowing that antenna of yours, me and Almuerzo just need to go powder our noses," Bra grinned innocently, going behind the raven-haired girl and pushing her away. 

"They're up to something," said both Goten and Trunks at the same time with a sigh. 

"Well, no time to worry about it now," said Pan, lifting her bow. "We'll be up soon." 

Base was finally able to regrow his antenna. He fingered the green limb and sighed in relief, standing up and testing his balance. He then looked around for his caimans. 

"Oops," said Base, seeing them stuck in the walls. Looking a little sheepish, he went over and collected them. 

Marron twirled in a circle, snapping one chuck out then back under her arm, doing the same for the other a moment later. She kicked high and kiaed, (short yell when blocking or attacking to tighten the muscles) turning around and into a left-foot-forward front stance, both chucks whirling in tight circles at her sides. 

Another loud kia (pronounced key-I) sounded and Goten dove out on the floor with a roll, into his own stance by Marron's side, posed to strike. Pan jumped out in a tornado kick, bow twirling around her. She landed lightly and snapped the bow defensively in front of her just in time to deflect Trunks' front sword strike as he slid out silently behind her powerful move. The swordsman turned to the side and crouched low with his sword posed overhead and Base, the last out, jumped right over Trunks' head, Caimans raking the air. As he landed, he held them out to his sides in a ready position. Once they were all ready, they kiaed as one and struck at the air. They were more then a little shocked when cherry blossoms and the sound of two sticks being hit together drifted into the air. 

"Yaaahooowww," said Bra, very clearly, on the sidelines. To her side was a fan that blew the blossoms that she tossed in front of it. Almuerzo, beside her, struck the two thick wooden sticks a couple more times. 

Sweat drops ran down Base, Pan, Trunks, Goten, and especially Marron's head. 

Marron was getting ready to beg forgiveness for her friends' lack of respect when the crowd broke out in cheers. Several photographers for the event were snapping pictures like mad. 

"Hey Marron, they like it," said Goten. 

"T-they do?" said Marron, looking around and blinking. 

"Yah, you're a hit!" said Pan. "Go greet your public," she grinned, slapping Marron so hard on the back she staggered forward to stand in front of everyone. Everyone cheered louder, young and old alike, shouting out compliments for everything from her kata to her looks. Marron blushed brightly then smiled, laughing nervously and thanking them as the shower of pink petals continued to drift around her in an enchanting fashion. 

The groups slowly retreated, leaving her as the center of attention to go join Bra and Almuerzo. 

"Really, now you're a kabuki theater, Bra," said Trunks, crossing his arms and looking at his sister. 

"Yaahoooww," said Bra with a big smile. To her side, Almuerzo hit her sticks again. She tossed the rest of her blossoms in front of the fan and dusted off her hands. "Doesn't Marron look happy?" she asked. 

Everyone turned to see the blond waving to the crowd that continued to cheer her on. 

"I can see her as a beauty queen that's just won her crown." Bra began to wave and look emotional, like she would cry any minute, in an imitation of a Miss American beauty queen, blowing kisses and dabbing at her eyes. 

"I guess this means she's the Karate Queen," said Trunks in good humor, watching as Bra continued to play act, mouthing thank you in a sappy fashion. 

Goten nudged Bra as Marron finally managed to get away and was know standing behind the blue haired demi-Saiya-jin. Bra turned around and spotted Marron with her arms crossed, tapping her foot on the floor. 

"Ehh," said Bra and began laughing nervously. 

"Bra," said Marron, lifting her eyebrow. "What are you doing?" 

"Oh, just playing around, Miss Karate Queen," said Bra, curtsying to her. 

"Karate Queen?" said Marron in confusion. 

"Yup, that would be you, Marron the Martial Arts beauty-not only is she smart and drop dead sexy, but she can kill you in less then two seconds!" Bra practically shouted, clapping her hands like she was some sort of announcer for an obscure cartoon. 

Marron snorted and shook her head. "Bra, don't say that too loud, there's actually quite a few reporters walking around and I don't want them to get any weird ideas." 

"Too late," said Base, looking over his shoulder at one man writing down on a pad of paper. 

"Eek!" Marron freaked again, leaving the group to run over to the man. They could vaguely hear Marron trying to explain that her friend was only kidding around, that she never planned for the big display, and that her real gi was stolen by an alien weirdo and she had no choice but to wear the more flashy one. More reporters moved to question her as she tried to explain in a panic that it was all a mistake, although the reporters seemed to think she was just being modest. 

Trunks laughed softly. "Think we'll win?" he asked. 

"I don't know," said Pan. "I mean, there were lots of really good contestants." 

"Plus Base here flung his Caimans, nearly cleaving one judge in half," grinned Bra. 

"Not my fault, someone cut off my antenna." Then he frowned and looked at them. "Just who did cut it off?" 

Everyone got thoughtful looks on their faces. 

"Not me," said Goten. 

"Or me," said Pan. 

"Hey, don't look at me," Trunks protested. 

"Almuerzo already said she didn't do it and I never got close enough to do any such thing," Bra said in a thoughtful voice. 

Everyone frowned softly. That was very strange, antennas don't just fall off for no reason. 

"Keep an eye out," said Trunks. "We can't be too careful, especially with constant alien threat hanging over our heads." 

"Oh, come on, Trunks, you really don't think those guys came down and cut Base's antenna off, do you?" said Goten in a carefree manner. 

"I'm not sure what happened, just be careful, okay? We have no idea what these guys' next move will be, and I don't want any of you being targeted like Bra was." 

Everyone was silent a moment as Trunks' words sank in. Once again they were reminded that despite the fact that they were living normal lives, any minute now that could all be taken away from them by this unknown enemy. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

Lady Kijo smiled while watching the demi Saiya-jin girl, Bra, enter a changing room with a group of females. She'd had a crewman keep an eye on Doctor Mono and told him to report to her if he was up to anything fishy. Needless to say, she'd been interested when he'd reported that the good doctor had made an attempt to capture one of the demi Saiya-jin's companions and failed. She'd had the crewman send her the group's last known position and here she was outside a large gym-like building, waiting to get a better look at her targets. She glanced at the new watch she'd purchased today, hoping they didn't take too long. She felt around with her sixth sense for ki and frowned-there seemed to be quite a few people around with higher then average human power levels. It made it impossible to find Vegeta's offspring's ki in it all since they seemed to be keeping their power levels pushed down. 

Kijo sighed and turned to the side, only to have one human in a hurry run into her side, knocking her shopping bags to the ground. Kijo bared her teeth at the stupid human that continued on, not even stopping to acknowledge what he'd done. She had to fight hard not to kill the stupid human. She was Lord Lucifer's second-in-command! People didn't just bump her and run off! She breathed deeply, calming herself down. She wasn't going to reveal herself over such a stupid thing, and she wasn't one to let her temper take over. Lady Kijo knelt down to start collecting her things. 

"Are you okay, miss?" asked a voice. 

Kijo frowned darkly at the ground; not another stupid human, she thought. She fixed her face up in a civil expression and looked up at the speaker. 

"I'm-…" she froze. 

"I'm really sorry that guy hit you like that…really, some people are so rude. Here, let me help you with all this," said the young man, kneeling down next to her and gathering the spilled stuff and putting them back into their bags. 

Kijo watched in total shock as the handsome youth with long silky purple hair and soft blue eyes fixed up her bags. It's him! Trunks Vegeta Briefs! She could only stare at him. For once in her life, Kijo was totally awestruck. He's beautiful… look at him, the way he's built, his coloring, that deep sultry voice, I've never seen a man so perfect in all the universe…even his picture doesn't do him justice. 

"Here you go," said Trunks with a warm smile standing up with her bags for her. 

Kijo shook her head to clear it of all the impure thoughts drifting around. "Thank you," she said sweetly, taking the bags. 

"Sure, no problem," said Trunks, glancing over his shoulder as Bra and the rest of her female group left the bathroom. "Well, there's my friends, nice meeting you," Trunks said cheerfully, turning to go towards the group. 

"Trunks… Vegeta… Briefs…" whispered Kigo softly. She ran her tongue slowly over her bottom lip. 

* * * * * * * * * * * 

"Juunana," said Juuhachi's slightly buzzed voice. (T.H… Eehehe! Juuhachi's buzzed, man!) 

"Yah?" Juunana spoke into his headset, checking all the ship scrap they'd collected, making sure it wouldn't be tossed around when then they reentered the atmosphere. 

"I'm going to set up the satellite now." 

"Do you need any assistance?" asked the black-haired twin. 

"No, just get everything ready to go so we can leave after I'm done," Juuhachi replied. She was outside the ship, floating next to the large hunk of metal and components that was part of Bulma's satellite link up. "It shouldn't take me long, I just need to adjust it so it catches the most sun and turns it on." 

"Okay, don't go outside of the ships sensors, or I may never find you again." 

"Don't worry, it's not like there's many other ships floating around out here. If you lose me I'll find you," The blond android joked, going over to the satellite and beginning to drag it into place. 

Juunana smiled as he passed a window and watched his twin sister through the thick plastic. Maybe he'd just been paranoid when he spoken to Bulma about hurrying to put the barrier up. There really didn't seem to be any danger at the moment. Maybe they were starting to considering it too much of a waste of time and resources to spend on such a remote planet. He snapped his head to the side as one of the computer conceals started to beep, flashing a red light at him. Juunana raised an eyebrow and moved over to the station looking down at the screen which displayed a large object that had been hiding in the shadow of the moon. Juunana's eyes widened. 

"Juuhachi!" he shouted into the headset. 

"Owe! Not so loud!" Juuhachi yelled back. 

"Get back to the ship right now!" 

"But I'm not done," she protested. 

"Forget that, we've got company," her twin replied. 

"What?!" came Juuhachi's startled query. 

Juunana ran over to another window and peered out, tilting his head to the side. He froze as he spotted a gigantic ship's nose just barely sticking out from around the moon. "Oh… Kami…" said the raven-haired android, his mouth going slack. Several small dots left the ship and grew in size until Juunana realized they were fighters. 

"Juuhachi," he shouted into the headset. 

"Yah, I see them!" said Juuhachi. "Are you ready to go yet?!" 

"Almost," said Juunana. 

"Good, I'll hold them off. You finished programming the ship; we can't fight them out in space for long," she said. 

Juunana cursed and ran for the controls, jumping and swinging himself into the chair, hands moving even before his rear touched down. 

Juuhachi pushed off the large satellite and, using her ki to propel her, dodged to the side as one fighter whipped dangerously close to her. 

"You want to fight?!" she shouted. "That's fine with me!" Energy flared up in her hand as she drew it back and sent it flying at the ship that had almost run her over. It hit square on and broke the ship in pieces, completely destroying it. 

Two more fighters zoomed in on her and began to fire short blasts at her. Juuhachi danced in and out of the way with small blasts of energy, her small size and speed making her a hard target. One ship headed straight at her. 

"Now you want to play chicken, do you?" Juuhachi asked, not moving. She jumped up as the ship reached her, moving above its nose and widening her legs to sit on the craft. The force of the ship's great speed caused her to slide forward till she was right before the cockpit of the ship, hands pressed against the clear glass-like substance to keep herself from being pressed fully against it. She couldn't help the little smirk that alighted her lips at the look of shock she could see on the pilot's face. With a shout, Juuhachi drew back her fist and slammed it through the glass that encircled the pilot. Red bubbles escaped the now open cockpit and Juuhachi pulled back her blood-covered hand. She jumped off the fighter ship as it started to weave out of control with its pilot dead. The fighter turned in disarray and finally sped towards the moon, where it impacted. 

Juuhachi turned to meet the last fighter as it moved towards her, firing in a continuous string of ammo. Juuhachi charged up her energy and slapped the blasts to the side contemptuously, watching as the ship continued in a path-headed right for her. What's with these guys, are they all kamikaze pilots? She thought wearily as energy lit up her whole form. The ship slammed right into her, thinking its greater mass and size would surely splatter the earth woman all over its front. The pilot was greatly surprised when his ship tore like tissue paper around the girl, who stood like a lamppost, unmoved by the attack at all. 

"Hn," said Juuhachi, turning around and looking at the ship that floated past her now in two pieces. "Baka," she breathed, turning to look at the Capsule Corps ship heading her way. 

"Juunana, hurry up and let's get-" 

The blond android's words were cut short as a beam of light flashed from the large battle ship still mostly hidden behind the moon and struck her back, coming out her chest in a shower of blood. Her mouth opened in a silent scream of agony. 

"Juuhachi," Juunana stared from his place by the window, watching at his twin go limp and hang motionless. "Juuhachi!" he screamed, pressing up against the glass. A fine tremor shook his whole body as he ran his hand down the glass over the image of his twin, fingers squeaking over the surface. "Nnnoooo!" he roared, tossing back his head, two wet trails making their way down his pale cheeks. "Juuhachi," he whispered softly leaning against the cold glass. 

The ship shook violently as if it had been pushed and Juunana raised his tear-streaked face to look out the cockpit window where the large battleship he'd detected could be seen. A thick red beam of light went from it to his ship, dragging him toward the larger ship-a tractor beam of some kind. 

Almost brokenly, Juunana looked back at his sister who was slowly growing smaller and smaller as his ship was dragged away from her.   
  
  
Hours later, the blonde android floated, unmoving, in the silence of space, looking up as the sea of stars that shone down on her. To her side stood the earth, big, blue, and beautiful. She shifted her blood soaked hand over her gaping wound. Even in her condition she couldn't help but think the earth was beautiful seeing it like this. She didn't know whither to be grateful or not. Since she was an android, the massive hole in her shoulder hadn't killed her, nor did the vacuum of space. Without air pressure and things like gravity her blood was only slowly being forced from her body by her own cursed heartbeat. She wondered which would run out first, her blood or her oxygen-which was, thankfully or not, sealed off from the main portion of her suit and only filled in the helmet for her to breath. Why do I always get so sentimental out here, she thought, snorting softly. The small sound echoed around in her helmet. I've been around Krillin and Marron too long. 

Juuhachi lifted her head and once again glazed at the earth. So peaceful, so quiet… she thought, closing her blue eyes. 

Notes 

All theories about Namek sei-jins are from my head; none of it is based off of any tidbits given to us by DBZ's creator. 

Also Marron's last name "Chestnut" is not her real last name. I have no idea what it is, I don't think they ever say. So I made Marron's family name Chestnut because both Krillin and Marron's names mean Chestnut. 

Names mean:   
Kijo- Japanese for demoness  
(Doctor) Mono- Japanese for thing.   
Almuerzo- Spanish for lunch 


	8. Chapter 7: Toy Soldier Attack This Means...

****

War Of Worlds

Chapter7: Toy Soldier Attack/ This Means War 

Lady Kijo sighed softly as she maneuvered the one-man craft back to her mother ship, 'The Angel of Death'.

"Trunks…" she said softy, unable to get those haunting blue eyes out of her head, that soft purr of a voice out of her ears, and that pleasant musky scent from her nose. It was lust at first sight; never had she imagined, let alone seen, a man that made her whole body tingle with just the thought of him. She licked her lips and grinned to herself. "This mission maybe a lot funnier then I imagined it to be," she purred softly as her instruments bleeped, signaling she'd entering into the sensor range of her ship. Leaning back, she switched on the autopilot to relax and let the larger ship's tractor beams dock her. 

No sooner had she done so then that whole craft jerked violently and swung dangerously to the left.

"Shit!" shouted the demoness, slapping the off switch for the ship's autopilot and going back to manual control. "What the fuck are those assholes doing now?" she grumbled, steering the ship towards the bay doors, which were wide open. She frown to herself, taking in the disaster site that was where she was suppose to land her ship. The hold was a mess: scorch marks speckled the whole area, other cruisers had been damaged and destroyed, supplies that hadn't been stored away when brought on board were scattered all over the place busted from their containers. Several dead crewmen lay about the area; pools of blood splashed all over the place like a bad paint job. 

The frown on Lady Kijo's face darkened as she drove her ship through the protective air bubble separating space from the inside of the ship and landed the craft on the clearest space she could find. The hatch on her ship opened and she climbed out to jump to the ground. "What the hell happened here?" she muttered, looking around. She walked over to a ship she didn't recognize and reached up a hand to run it over the strange logo on its side.

"Capsule… Corps…." Her eyes blinked a few times at the logo. "Capsule Corps? What is a product of that earth company doing here?" She turned her head as she faintly heard sounds of battle and screaming. "Hmm…" She moved towards the sounds.

As she walked she cast her eyes around; dead bodies littered the halls, some maimed beyond recognition. A small smiled tugged at the corner of her mouth. "It looks like someone was a wee bit pissed about something," she said, humor lacing her voice. The smile never left her lips as she finally found the source of the carnage. 

A lone man moved about the hall delivering death left and right with his bare hands. He was soaked in blood of many colors, a look of reneges across his handsome features. His fine silky black hair swung around his face and neck as he spun like a tornado of death among the ranks of men. He turned and spotted her and she looked into a pair of icy blue eyes that seemed almost dead: as if the creature that owned them wasn't alive. She frowned again trying to get a feel for him, but got nothing—no ki, no nothing… what the hell 'was' he?

With a roar the man launched himself at her and she was amazed at his speed. She ducked and dodged under his flying fists, and gasped in shock and pain as one connected solidly with the side of her face. She went flying back to slam hard into the hall's side, denting the surface with her body. He was strong! Very strong! How could something with no ki be so strong?! Lady Kijo lifted a hand and wiped at her mouth, drawing back her hand she stared at the blood staining it. A sadistic smile found its way on her face. 

"Not bad," she purred, pulling herself out of the body shaped hole she lay in. "But you really should know better then to hit a beautiful creature like myself across the face. I'll have to teach you a lesson, boy."

The man hissed softly under his breath. "You shot Juuhachi…. I'll never forgive you for what you've done to my sister!" he roared charging at her. He didn't get far as he slammed into something that nearly broke his nose. Around Kijo appeared to be a translucent green bubble.

"My dear boy," said Kijo in a deadly calm voice. "You picked the wrong woman to vent your pain on," she smiled again in sadistic pleasure; the bubble around her darkened to purple. Her eyes matched it, glowing with an eerie light. The short black wings, which had remained hidden under the curtain of her hair, spread to their full length. 

Juunana's eyes widened, realizing that the bubble around her wasn't a shield, it was her battle aura! It was so strong and compacted into that small space around her that he couldn't even get through it—had bounced off it like he'd run into a wall! What the hell was she?! What kind of power was he up against here?!

"Hell Fire."

The aura bubble around her burst in a blinding roar of purple. Juunana didn't even have time to scream as he as well as several other soldiers who'd been standing too close were engulfed. 

The light faded and Kijo flipped her long green hair, looking around at the damage she'd caused. A perfect donut of space had simply been eradicated from existence by the move. The area inside the bubble as well as everything past ten feet was left untouched, but the rest was now charred black. The smell of burnt flesh, walls, and floor mixed together in a nauseating scent for the few remaining soldiers left in the hall.

Kijo turned a slow circle, eyes searching.

"Way to go Lady Kijo!" cheered one of the remaining soldiers. The others nervously joined in to applaud and cheer the powerful female demon.

"Fools!" hissed Kijo making them freeze. She stepped off the undamaged section of floor and into the charred scoop she'd created. She then knelt down and brushed her fingers over something laid on the blackened floor there. 

"Lady Kijo?" questioned one soldier. 

The corner of Kijo's mouth quirked up as she brushed soot off the thing on the ground. "Impressive," she said flipping what could now be made out as a figure over on its back. 

"Impossible!" gasped one of the soldiers leaning over to peer at the white skin Kijo had unearthed. "How could he have survived that?!"

"Actually that was not one of my more deadly attacks," purred the demoness, brushing her hands over the blackened android's face to revel for the most part that he was fine—his hair wasn't even burnt!

'But—!"

"That attack is simply an extremely hot fire spell. Apparently whoever this vengeful man is he's far too powerful to be burned to death. He was able to put of some kind of shield over his whole body before I flash fired everything; impressive, especially for something with no ki." She smoothed her hand down one pale white cheek.

"Then if he was able to protect himself, what happened?" questioned the soldier. "Why'd he pass out?"

"Fire needs oxygen to burn," stated the demoness staring down at the android. "Humans need oxygen to breathe. When I used my Hell Fire technique it used up all the oxygen inside the blast site in an instance, including what was in his lungs at the time. It's like having the breath sucked from your lungs and blood all at once. Basically he passed out from oxygen starvation."

She stood up and looked down at the KO android. "Strange, very strange," she said holding her chin in thought. "Take him to Doctor Mono and see if the old bastard can figure out just what he is."

"Hai!" said two soldiers moving to pick Juunanagou up by the shoulders and feet.

"You," said Kijo, turning to another soldier. "What the hell happened here?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

The soldier gulped and took a nervous step back. "W-we picked up a craft on our sensors and decided to intercept in case it was a spy ship. There was a small battle in space where we lost some fighters before we killed the being outside the ship. After that we got a hold on the strange ship and brought it on board. Once we had it on the ship the lone passenger jumped out and attacked us. We were handling the matter when you showed up my lady," the man bowed frantically. 

Kijo laughed. "Handling it?" she laughed harder. "Look at the damaged that one man did." She gestured around with one hand at the dead bodies all over the place and the damage done to the hall. "If I hadn't showed up there's no telling what might have happened. Shit, what if he'd gotten into the engineering room or something?! He could have torn his ship to pieces!" she growled angrily down at the soldier, reaching to fist a hand in the front of his uniform, hauling him up nose to nose with her. "We've already lost two ships to this pathetic planet, I will not lose another. Do you understand?" she said in a deadly calm voice.

"Ha-hai!" stammered the soldier before Kijo released him to fall on his butt. 

"Incompetent," growled Kijo, moving down the damaged hall. "Are you sure you killed the other one? I do not want anything that powerful anywhere near this ship."

"Ha-Hai! We got it lady, I hit it myself," said the soldier, moving to follow the demoness.

"I asked if it was dead! I didn't ask if you'd hit it or not," said Kijo, turning to glare at the soldier. 

"I-it has to be… there's no why it could survive that," said the soldier, paling under the stare of those purple eyes.

Kijo narrowed her eyes more and turned her head back to watch where she was going. I don't like this, she thought silently to herself. Just one of them was that strong and he survived my attack without a scratch. I'm not convinced that the other's dead. "Send a search party out, and bring me the remains of the other. You'd better find them and pray that you really did kill it, or I will hold you personally responsible for any more damage," said the demoness, coldly moving down the hall. "Call Doctor Mono. I want to see just what that boy's made of myself."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Bulma sat frowning at the computer console before her.

Nothing, absolutely nothing! She'd returned from her little dinner date with Vegeta to check on Juunana and Juuhachi only to find nothing! No signal from their ship, no messages left for her, no way of getting in contact with them. It was like they'd disappeared into thin air!

"What's going?" she questioned out loud. They should have been ready to return by now and have called in looking for info on weather conditions and changes that might have hindered their landing. The worried frown on her face only got bigger as silence reigned through the room. She almost jumped out of her chair when she heard the sound of a door opening and excited voices talking animatedly with one another.

Curious, Bulma walked out of her lab and into the kitchen to see seven teenagers decked out in martial arts gis raiding the cupboards and fridge. 

"Hey mom," smiled Trunks, spotting her. "We're back from the tournament, got second place," he said, waving as a good-sized trophy standing on the kitchen table.

Bulma's worried frown left for a moment as she took them all in. "Second?" she smiled. "Why not first?"

"Because Base here has butterfingers," grinned Bra, poking the Namek sei-jin in the side.

"I do not," grumbled Base. He continued to grumble something under his breath that Bulma couldn't quite make out, something about antennas and crazy women.

"I thought Base-kun did great," Almuerzo smiled, currently wearing her more gentle brunette aspect.

"She's right Bra, don't be mean. There was a lot of really good competition, I'm surprised we did so well," said Marron, before biting down on a large chocolate chip cookie. 

Bra stuck her tongue out at the blond girl. "You should have gotten first, no one else there could compare with you guys."

"Even if we didn't rank first place, we sure got the most attention," said Pan. "I'll bet you'll find lots of new students eagerly waiting to sign up for classes at your dojo door."

"Yah, I'm sure dad will be thrilled with that," Marron smiled happily. "I can't wait to tell him and mom about it."

The worried frown appeared back on Bulma's face when Marron said that. She silently debated with herself whether she should say anything yet or wait a few hours longer. The choice was made for her though.

"Say mom, are Marron's mother and Juunana back yet?" asked Trunks, looking at his watch. "It's about time for them to return, isn't it?"

"Oh yah! I almost forgot they were up there with the tournament and all," said Marron. "Is she back, Bulma-san? I'd really like to talk to her."

Bulma could only look at her with the worried frown on her face, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

"Mom?" called Bra. "Is something wrong?"

Bulma slowly wet her lips, swallowing to get her voice working. "I haven't been able to get a hold of them since I came back."

"You can't get a hold of them?" Trunks said, his voice puzzled. "That's not possible unless they've gone out of range. Have you picked them up on sonar?"

Bulma slowly shock her head. "The tracker didn't show… but maybe they turned it off for some reason and I just can't pick them up with all the junk orbiting the planet."

Both Trunks and Bra wore doubtful looks when Bulma finished saying that—not that Bulma really thought it was true either.

"Are you saying… something happened to them?" said Marron, her eyes widening.

"We don't know that yet," said Bulma, trying to assure her. "We just don't know where they are at the moment."

"This sounds bad," said Base, his low deep voice rumbling in his chest. "Your machines can't find them and neither can we since they don't have ki signatures. If they don't contact us or come back on their own, there's no way we'll be able to locate them."

"No… way?" whispered Marron, complexion turning a pale white. 

Goten stood up behind her and braced his hands on her shoulders just as Marron swayed a little uncertainly on her feet. 

"Goten?"

"Don't worry, Marron," said Goten, smiling kindly at her. "You know your mom and uncle, they'll be just fine. I'll wait with you till they come back." He turned her towards the living room, guiding her to one of the comfy couches. "You just sit back and relax, I'll get you some hot tea and we can talk about the tournament while we wait."

The others watched them go.

"Those two are always comforting each other," said Bra, with a small shake of her head. "When are they just going to say they're a couple? It couldn't be any plainer if they had wedding bands on their fingers."

Trunks gave a small snort at that and turned to his mom. "What are we going to do?"

Bulma gave a sad sigh. "Like Base said, there's really nothing we can do but wait. I'm sure Juuhachi and her brother can take care of themselves and if they did run into something up there, they'll find away to contact us… I'm sure they will." Despite Bulma's words she didn't sound as confident as she wanted to.

"Run into something," said Trunks in a low tone. "What if they ran in to another ship…"

A long silence filled the air with those low words. Nobody even wanted to think what might have happened if the two androids had met up with more of Lucifer's forces. Even if they didn't want to think of it, they all knew that it was a real possibility.

"We'll just have to pray that's not the case," said Bulma, turning back to her lab to try to get a hold of the android pair again.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Dr. Mono's eyes fairly sparkled with excitement as he looked at the fair skinned creature the soldiers had dragged into his lab but half an hour ago. It had been blackened with soot when he'd first seen it, but since then a few nurses had thoroughly washed it off. It wasn't a Saiya-jin, but a human by its physical appearance. Not what he wanted to study, but a good enough start since humans were very similar to Saiya-jins as far as physical structure went. He lifted his hand and slid it down the creature's body from neck to navel feeling the gentle rising and falling of its chest signally it was deep in sleep. He snorted. It wasn't as fun to start when the subject wasn't conscious, but he was eager to being.

Sliding up his operation mask, his eyes narrowed as he studied, looking for just the right place. He decided on the lower abdomen and lifted a scalpel towards the pale flesh.

He jerked back with a start as the door slid open, and in walked his continuous annoyance—the demon bitch herself.

Kijo gave him an innocent smile and moved to stand by his side. "Haven't started yet, I see," she said absentmindedly as she gazed down at the man before her. "My… what a handsome creature, I didn't noticed when he was snarling and covered in gore." She reached up a hand and traced her fingers over his pale lips, eyes raking down his lean form. "This planet, Earth, may hold some promise for the slaves trade, especially if there are more as fair as his one." She glanced at the scalpel the doctor held and raised a thin eyebrow at it. "You are so predictable, good doctor. You could just as easily using the scanners to give you detailed information on him and yet you prefer your hands on approach. Such a waste of well put together male."

Dr. Mono snorted. "I've heard all about your 'collection' of well put together males. But, you're wrong, lady, it's not what's on the outside that counts, but the inside."

"Why, good doctor, that is perhaps the most poetic and sweetest thing I've ever heard from your mouth," she said with a teasing smile.

The doctor grinned in a creepy way and leveled the scalpel back over Juunana's stomach. "You want to see how beautiful this young man is on the inside?" His grin got wider and more crazed as he pressed the scalpel down, drawing a bead of crimson on the white flesh. "Such pretty blood," said the man's voice, hinting at unspeakable pleasure as he drew a line across Juunana's abdomen.

Kijo glanced at the doctor, noting the pleasure dancing in his eyes. Her face was emotionless as she turned it back to the unconscious man, watching as red blood spilled over his pale flesh in small ribbons to spread along the table. "Tell me doctor… it this man alive?"

"Of course," said Dr. Mono, moving to draw back the skin, the pleasure of his work sounded in his voice. "I only dissect my subject while they still breathe. It's not nearly as fascinating to do otherwise."

"I know that he breathes, I want to know if he's alive," said Kijo, narrowing her eyes as she watched the crimson spread.

Dr. Mono stopped a moment and glanced over at her. "What kind of question is that? If he breathes, he's alive."

Kijo's eyes narrowed more. "There is a force around all living things: ki. It surrounds and flows through all that can be considered alive. Plants, animal, even planets and suns, all have ki. This man… he doesn't have any. I do not think he can be considered alive."

"Hmm?" hummed Dr. Mono, turning his attention back to this work. "Well, he's organic, whatever the hell he is…" he stopped and peered down at the area of blood and flesh he'd uncovered. 

"What?" asked Kijo, leaning to see.

"Look at this," he said, running his scalpel over something that gleamed metallic-like even as it was covered in blood. He poked it with the scalpel and a ring was heard, metal on metal.

Kijo's eyebrows forked down more. "Bio scan, now," she snapped at a nurse standing not far away.

"Delay that!" growled Mono, glaring at Kijo. "This is my department, or have you forgotten? You gave me this creature and it is mine to study and do with as I please."

Kijo smiled at him. "Oh, I did give it to you to study, but that doesn't mean I can't still interfere. Bio scan now, girl, if you value your life."

The nurse paled and moved to comply with Kijo's request. Dr. Mono looked at Kijo with burning rage in his eyes. 

"Don't worry, good doctor. I promise you you'll get one of the demi-Saiya-jins, but now I think I've found a new toy I can use against the Saiya-jin," her smile was dangerous as she looked down at Juunana.

A blue line of light traced over Juunana form twice before winking out. A screen flashed to life before the lady and doctor, appearing in mid air.

"Incredible," said Doctor Mono, reaching up a hand to trace a finger over the picture presented on the screen. 

"What does it say, good Doctor? If I'm not mistaken, these are both metal and organic components, are they not?" questioned Kijo.

"Yes, he's organic, or should I say, 'was' organic." He lifted a hand and traced it over a theorem bone. "His man's bones have been plated with some kind of strong alloy. The hollowed insides of this kind of bone structure have also been coated in metal. Incredible, how could such a primitive planet have designed this…?" He tapped on the screen, showing enlargements of the bone he'd been looking at. "Coating a bone like this makes it almost impossible to break. Even if the actually bone itself did break or shatter, the metal coating would hold it perfectly in place till it healed. The subject probably wouldn't even feel any pain, nor be hindered by it. It's like having braces build into your body." He tapped the screen again to show blood cells traveling along the metal-coated bones. "Look at these cells," he pointed to one. "They're composed like mini batteries, yet they're completely organic. His blood was artificially created some how. If all these cells charged at once I can only imagine the amount of power he'd have coursing though his veins."

Kijo winced and reached up a hand to touch her face. "Oh, I know that all too well."

The screen zoomed out and zoomed in to display other sections, some showing completely metal components designed to act as artificial organs. Others were typical humanoid tissues only enhanced in some genetic or mechanical way. All in all, Juunana appeared to have once been a human who'd been taken apart and put back together with a few new parts thrown in. 74% of his tissues had been removed and replaced with either metal parts or some enhanced genetically designed tissue that provided the same functions as the host's original tissues only served to fill other roles as well. He was stronger, faster, capable of handling more damage and delivering more damage than any human; information had been programmed in and he could access it with the ease of a computer. All this and more put together created something that had once been human, but could no longer be considered human. He was more machine now then organic, and what was organic was interworked with metal and genetically mutated tissues that far surpassed anything human.

"A work of art," breathed Doctor Mono. "Whoever did this was a pure genius. They've done things that even scientists who have the full back up and support of whole galaxy have failed to do. How…how can anyone on such an insignificant planet do this? It doesn't make sense," he muttered. 

"It would appear that not just overly powerful creatures exist one this remote plant, but a few beings with remarkable intelligence as well dwell there," Kijo commented. She smiled, rubbing a few strains of Juunanagou's silky black hair between her fingers. "Good doctor, I hate to break up your fun, but I have new plans for this android."

"I was afraid you'd say that," said the doctor, glaring hatefully

"We should transfer him to other specialists under Lord Lucifer's command, they might be able to duplicate some of this for use in the battle field. This man has been turned from a pathetic weak creature into perhaps the most formable bio solider I've ever laid eyes on. The only thing I can think of that even comes close to this kind of perfection is a Saiya-jin. A dozen of these could do the work of a hundred armed men in half the time."

"Hmm, impressive indeed," purred Kijo. "But this young toy solider will not be sent off to be tinkered with. As I said I have plans for him. I will make him dance on strings for my amusement and tell me all our enemies secrets."

"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Mono.

Kijo laughed low to herself. "You will see, good doctor, you will see."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Bulma sat in front of her computer once more, trying to will the machines around her to beep telling her they'd found the CC ship, but they were annoyingly quiet.

"Juuhachi, where are you?" she asked the air. With a loud sigh she stood up to get herself some more coffee. She might be there waiting all night if the two didn't call soon. She entered the kitchen to see that the once cheerful teens all now wore worried looks on their faces.

Marron was sitting in the living room with Pan and Goten on either side of her speaking comforting words and trying to take her mind off the fact that her mother and uncle were for all she knew lost in space. Base was standing silently in a corner with his arms crossed, a silent creature shrouded in shadows giving him a battle tense look as if he were ready to spring into motion at any moment. Almuerzo sat opposite from Bra, idly rolling an orange back and forth between her hands across the kitchen table. Bra looked worried and sat tapping her finger on the table in a continuous click of nails. Trunks was walking back and forth between the groups more so he could make a worry trench in the carpet then to say a few comforting words to any of them. The lavender haired demi-Saiya-jin walked right up to her when she entered the room.

"Anything?" he asked, too low for anyone else to hear. 

Bulma sadly shock her head. 

Trunks hissed a small curse between his lips. "What could have happened to them? Maybe we should send someone up to look for them?"

Bulma once again shook her head. " Until we know more we shouldn't make a move. As much as I hate not knowing what's happened to them, I'm not willing to risk anyone else, especially if it is…" Bulma let the sentence hang, she didn't need to finished, Trunks knew all too well what she was going to say: the enemy, Lucifer's forces. The demi-Saiya-jin hissed another curse.

"Krillin called a little while back," he said softly. 

Bulma winced. "What did he say?"

"He's headed here now."

Bulma nodded. No doubt Krillin was panic stricken. She wondered if it was going to be possible to calm him down.

"Do you want to take a break and have me take over?" asked Trunks. "You look worn, mom," he said in concern, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Bulma reached up and patted his hand. "Don't worry about me, but maybe you should take over for a bit. I'm sure Krillin will want to talk to me and maybe I should take a little break…this could go on for awhile."

Trunks nodded. "Alright, call me if you need me or find anything out," said Trunks, turning towards the lab door and entering. 

Bulma watched him go and no sooner had the door closed then the back door leaning to the yard opened and Vegeta strolled in, dressed now in loose sweats and a tank top plastered to him with sweat. Of course, he'd been out training. Bulma almost felt like sighing. He was so predictable or maybe she just knew him too well. Vegeta did surprise her from time to time—the fact that his daily routine was rarely broken only served to make it that much more unusually when he did.

Vegeta twisted his head around, taking in everyone's worried looks and depressed moods. He looked back at her. "Who died?"

Marron's head snapped over to look at him and that miserable look on her face suddenly managed to get several more degrees more miserable.

"Vegeta!" Goten growled, moving closer to Marron in a comforting gesture.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "What? Don't tell me someone really did die?" he asked, looking at Bulma.

"God, you're as blunt as a butter knife," hissed Bulma. She allowed herself to conjure up the fantasy of going over and strangling him right then. "No one's dead," she emphasized the words, in the hope she could ease some of the damage her thoughtless husband had caused Marron. Not that he'd known any better, but still, he should learn to hold his tongue sometimes. "We've lost communications with Juunana and Juuhachi."

"Lucifer?" he asked.

"We're not sure yet," said Bulma.

Vegeta made an annoyed sound. "Well, inform me if is them, I could use a good fight," said the Saiya-jin, causally moving to leave the room for his bathroom and shower.

"Heartless," muttered Pan under her breath, watching him leave.

"Not heartless," said Bra in the same causal voice. "He's just not interested unless we need him for combat."

"And you think that's not heartless?" growled Pan.

"That's enough, you two," said Bulma, grabbing a chair and sitting down at the table. "That's just the way he is, no point in fighting over it." She frowned slightly. "He's not the world's best poker player, but he's got the best damn poker face I've ever see. Sometimes I think he plays life like he would a hand of cards. I never know what he's holding till he slap them down on the table for me to see."

"Bulma!"

The blue haired woman nearly jumped out of her chair, her hand went to grasp her heart. She turned to see Krillin running through the door hallway towards them. "Krillin, don't do that!" she screeched. "You damn near gave me a heart attack!"

"Bulma, where's Juuhachi! Have you found her yet?!" asked the frantic monk skidding to a halt next to the seated woman. From the look of it he'd flown there, since none of them had heard a car drive up. His now pale gray hair was tousled and wind blown, and his clothes looked slightly untucked perhaps from the wind beating on them. He wasn't any spring chicken anymore, yet he showed very little signs of aging beyond his gray hair and a few wrinkles around the corners of his mouth and eyes. Probably from smiling too much. To Bulma he looked every bit as built as he had been when bald and adventurous, but she knew he wasn't as strong as he'd once been and did occasionally comment on knee and back pains. All and all she was sure he could still teach most anyone a lesson if they dared mess with him, but he probably won't bounce back from any injuries received as he once had. As it was he looked too old to be the ageless android's husband, yet Bulma knew the two loved each other as much as they had thirty, forty years ago. It was sad to think that Juuhachi would have to watch him age and die while she looked the same as when they first meant. The thought sent a shiver down her spine—it hit too close to home. She'd been rejuvenated with the dragon balls, but would that give her enough time? Would Vegeta outlive her even with another lifetime added on to hers? Truthfully, she had no idea how long Saiya-jins lived and there no longer were any dragon balls to make wishes with. Shenlong had taken them and Son Goku and left, possibly for good. Son Goku… so many sad thoughts…

"Bulma!"

Krillin's shout pulled the blue haired woman out of her thoughts.

"My wife, Bulma, is she alright?!"

Bulma gestured at a chair next to hers, but Krillin gave a sharp shake of his head: he would stand.

With a sigh, Bulma told him all she knew, which wasn't much. She took her time, dragging it out in the hopes that Trunks would come bounding up from the lab with good news, or bad. God, she hoped it wasn't bad.

"And that's all we really know right now, Krillin."

The ex-monk swallowed as if his mouth had gone dry. "What are you going to do?"

Bulma held eye contact with him for a long moment. "We wait."

"Wait?! Bulma, she could be hurt or worse! What if she and Juunana needs help?! We should go up after them!"

Bulma shook her head. "Too dangerous, Krillin."

"I don't care if it's dangerous, I'll go up myself, alone if I have to, Bulma!"

"I want to go too!" shouted Marron standing up much to Goten's protests.

"Me too!" said Pan, pulling on her sleeve. "We'll trash those bastards, they'll wish they'd never even heard of earth when we're done," she grinned.

"Fools," came a soft purr. All turned to look at Vegeta leaning against a doorframe with his arms crossed, now dressed in a black version of his normal tight uniform complete with white boots and gloves. "You don't even know if they need help. You'll more likely get yourselves hurt or lost then be of any use to them."

"Vegeta," growled Krillin. " She's my wife, I'm going up to help her."

"Baka," said Vegeta, with an emotionless look on his face.

"Don't insult me! If it was Bulma instead you'd hurry up there like your tail was on fire!" shouted the monk.

"Bulma's not the one up there," stated Vegeta calmly. "There's no reason I should go."

"No reason! Don't you care at all! I know you've never like her because she kicked your ass when you two first meet, but that's no reason for you to leave her up there to die!"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Krillin," said Bulma, reaching out a hand to try and calm him down. 

"No! He's the strongest one of us here, he should be the one to go up there, none of them could beat him! We all know that! So why won't he?! You're too self-centered, Vegeta! You don't care about anyone but yourself!"

A low growl issued from Vegeta's throat and everyone that could sense ki suddenly felt the Saiya-jin prince's skyrocket. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the Saiya-jin to tear into the monk, wondering if they'd be able to pull them apart if Vegeta did pounce.

Vegeta shifted his stance so he was leaning more on one leg then the other. His eyes glared death at the monk who bravely stared back with unblinking eyes. Krillin could be amazingly brave when he had to or was determined, but it was still hard to see the short man meeting one of Vegeta's cold glares head on. Vegeta's tail lashed violently behind him, the most visible sign of his anger. His tail always gave away his moods and right now it looked like he was bordering on rage. 

"As you so pointed out," said Vegeta, his voice dripping with cold rage for the human. "The tin cans are more then capable of taking care of themselves. If they couldn't defeat who ever they 'may' be up against then you and two little girls would hardly be of much use. I think you are aware of the fact that those androids hold more power then you. Their strength comes close to Goten and Trunks, by my guess. What makes you think you'd be of any assistance? You'd probably only get in their way.

"Which is why 'you' should go!" shouted Krillin.

"I have no idea where they are. Do you want me to fly around in space and hope I 'see' them? Space is vast, I've traveled it enough to know that finding one ship without any instruments that can locate them is like looking for a needle in a haystack. They are also not as stupid as you think them to be. That metal doll of yours has programmed data in her that could rival the smartest scientist or engineer on this planet. They're more likely to find us then we are to find them."

Krillin's fists shook at his sides with Vegeta's every word. As much as he hated to admit it, Vegeta did have a point. Juunana and Juuhachi were capable of taking care of themselves and they were far from helpless if it was ship troubles they were having. But despite the cold hard facts, Krillin was unable to get his heart to agree with it. He couldn't leave her out there—he couldn't! But what other option did he have?

"If we find them… will you go out and get them?" asked Krillin in a tight voice, his nails digging into the palms of his hands. 

Some of the angry flames in Vegeta's eyes died down though they still danced in those black depths. "As I said before, I could use a good fight, but if they're just lost I'm not a damn delivery service. You can get them yourself."

Krillin looked like he was about to snap back a harsh remark, but instead sighed and nodded his head in agreement. The fight suddenly drained out of him and he all but fell into the chair beside Bulma as if the argument had sapped his physical strength. Bulma knew it was only worry and helplessness that ate at him.

A long pause filled the air that was deafening in its silence. That silence was shattered by an amused giggle. Everyone's head snapped over to see a shapely woman standing outside by the sliding glass door. Her hair was a dark green and reached down to her thighs; her eyes were a haunting color of purple and did not seem natural. She was dressed in a formal-looking uniform of blood red slashed with black and bits of bright white.

Vegeta eyes widened, then narrowed.

She's, well… beautiful, thought Pan. Beautiful in an unnatural way. There was something about her that struck Pan as wrong. As far as physical beauty went, Bra ranked at the same level, yet did not hold that same kind of unnatural charm that encircled this mysterious woman. Proud, arrogant, confident, she knew she was beautiful—knew it as if it were a fact. The hair on Pan's arms rose. She didn't like her; her woman's intuition was screaming at her to get rid of this 'thing' before her. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this woman would be trouble: trouble for earth, trouble for them all, trouble for her. 

Goten gapped at the woman before them. He could feel himself drawn to her like a moth to a flame and he had the feeling that, like a moth, he would be burnt if he got too close. A cold chill ran down his spine and unconsciously he moved behind Marron to rest his hands on her shoulders, as if to shield himself from her. He suddenly felt a lot safer, now that he had some physical contract with the pretty blond. The woman outside didn't seem as beautiful as she had a moment ago. A confused look crossed his face. He wondered what had changed. She looked the same, but now she 'felt'… different. He glanced down at Marron to see the blond was frowning at the strange woman. She'd also lifted a hand and clasped it over one of his—he hadn't even felt her do it. A quick look around showed him the others had felt something too. Pan was glaring death at the strange woman like they were mortal enemies. Almuerzo had moved over to Base and wrapped herself around one of his arms, looking at the woman with a small crease between her brows—very unusual for her gentle brunette aspect to frown. Base, for once, wasn't protesting at Almuerzo's close contact. Goten had the impression the Namek sei-jin had frozen up like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Bra was the only one of them that didn't seem affected by the woman's presence. Her face was calm and neutral. The most shocking of all perhaps was Bulma, who now had a firm hold on Vegeta's tail with both hands as if she were ready to drag him away from the strange intruder by the furry length. Vegeta was frowning at the woman and didn't seem to notice his tail had been snatched. Goten blinked… or maybe Vegeta did know, as he watched the end of the furry appendage wrap around one of Bulma's wrists. 

Krillin stared at her with something close to awe on his face before giving himself a shake. "Who are you? How did you get past security?"

The green haired woman did not answer right away, but let her eyes wondered over the group. The corners of her mouth turned down ever so slightly, making it hard to be sure they'd really moved. She looked displeased about something, as if she'd expected some kind of reaction beyond people staring at her with frowns and dumbfounded expressions.

"I am Lady Kijo," she said, calm and business-like. She smoothed down her suit. "I'm here as a representative to negotiate the terms of your contract, Saiya-jin no ouji," she smiled, but it was anything but sweet.

"Contract?! What contract?!" growled Bulma, pulling her clenched hands around Vegeta's tail to her bosom. She blinked and looked down at her hands, suddenly realizing what she was doing with them. Looking slightly embarrassed she let go of the tail and crossed her arms.

"You," said Vegeta, his voice emotionless. "You've been following me. You revealed yourself at the restaurant, but you've been watching me all day, haven't you?"

Kijo smiled widely as if pleased by his words. "Oh, you are gifted Saiya-jin prince. Few sense me if I don't want them too. I have a feeling you will go far in Lord Lucifer's service."

"She's the enemy?" squeaked Almuerzo, clinging to Base tighter. The others tensed.

"Are you here looking for a fight?" asked Vegeta. He was still calm, though anyone who knew him knew he was ready to move if need be.

"Of course not," Kijo laughed. "I'm here to find out what it takes to buy a Saiya-jin prince," she purred, running her eyes over him as if he were a horse for sale. "I know of your mercenary background, and I can assure you we will treat you with the kind of respect a man of your breeding deserves. Not to mention we pay you for your services, unlike your previous employer, Freeza."

Vegeta's face hardened more, whether from the mention of Freeza or her offer, no one could tell. "I have no business with you. I suggest you leave before I decide to rip you apart."

Kijo did not seem troubled by his threats. She calmly levitated up into a seated position, making herself comfortable in mid air and crossed her legs. "It would be foolish to refuse my offer, Saiya-jin no ouji, you do not want Lord Lucifer as a enemy. This little planet won't last long against his might."

"Perhaps it is he who should be wary of who he makes his enemies," said Vegeta.

Kijo barked a small laugh. "You are on the losing side, Saiya-jin, it would be a shame if your kind were to suddenly go… extinct."

Threats, both were tossing out threats to one another, speaking as coolly and calmly as if they were commenting on the weather. It was shriveling everyone else's nerves!

"Leave this planet and don't come back," said Vegeta. "I've retired from that line of work and have no interests in going back to it. I will not join you."

"Perhaps you should think on it a few days, I will—"

"I said NO!" growled Vegeta, his calm breaking as he bared sharp canines at her.

Kijo studied him for a long moment, her face unreadable. "Foolish of you to refuse," she said in a neutral voice. "You're like him, like him in many ways—I can tell just by looking and listening to you. Such power… such pride."

No one knew who the 'him' was that Kijo spoke of, but before any could ponder it farther, Kijo sighed and pulled a small remote from her coat. 

"I suppose I'll have to pull out my ace." she pressed a button on the remote. Everyone tensed, muscles coiling to jump into action. To their surprise, no attack came. Instead a holographic screen appear to float at Kijo's shoulder, like some high tech slide projector. The dragon ball crew didn't untense as a picture flashed on the screen—if anything they grew tenser. Krillin gave a startled gasp.

"I believe this belongs to you," said Kijo, with a hint of cold smugness. On the screen was a picture of Juunana out cold.

"Juu… Where's Juuhachi!" Krillin shouted, suddenly leaping out of his chair and into a fighting stance.

"Juuhachi?" said Kijo, lifting an eyebrow. "What an odd name, but then again they are over half machine I suppose that makes them android, does it not? Some kind of bio-soldiers you've created, not worth giving a real names," that cool smile stayed on her lips. 

"Shut up! Don't you talk about my wife like that, you filthy bitch!" Krillin shouted. To say the small ex-monk was upset was an understatement. 

"Krillin," Bulma cautioned, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Kijo's other eyebrow went up, whether from the news that a human would marry an android or from Krillin's language it was hard to say.

"Where is she?! What have you done to her?! If you've hurt her, I swear I'll—!"

"Krillin!" Vegeta barked, making the human step back from him with a shocked look. "You're not helping," he said softly, face once again unreadable. "What do you want?" he said, voice hinting at ice.

"I told you. You," smiled Kijo. "Swear yourself loyal to my lord and come with me to serve, and I'll release your toy soldiers. Perhaps if you please Lucifer he will spare your little planet as well, Saiya-jin." She leaned back in midair, arms crossed with a smug look plastered on her face. "What will it be, Saiya-jin no ouji? Do you accept or should I dispose of your little friends?"

They stared each other down for a long moment that seemed to drag on forever.

"No."

Shock flashed on Kijo's face as well as everyone else's.

"I refuse," said Vegeta. He could have been chiseled from stone, for all the emotion he displayed.

"Ve… Vegeta!" shouted Krillin. "If you don't do something, Juunana and Juuhachi are going to die!" 

"They knew the risks when they went up there," said Vegeta, still in that blank tone.

"You… you bastard! How can you be so cold!" shouted Krillin.

Kijo laughed, gaining their attention once more. "An interesting creature you are, Saiya-jin, I thought your kind were pack hunters that always looked after their own. Maybe the info I read was wrong."

"They are not part of my pack. They mean nothing to me."

"Cold as ice, hot as fire," purred Kijo, seeming to study him with her haunting purple eyes. "Pity you won't join, Saiya-jin. It would have been a pleasure to see what makes you tick. We are of course enemies now. We will take this world and smash it to pieces, leaving everyone and everything on it in ruins, including yourself, Saiya-jin no ouji," her eyes glowed an eerie purple. She tossed back her head and laughed; a musically sound tainted with cruelty and sadistic pleasure.

The group of warriors growled, and Vegeta wasn't the only one to flash to super Saiya-jin and send a quick ki blast at the laughing woman. The blasts zoomed right through her and crashed into the ground behind her, throwing up clucks of dirt and grass. 

"H-how?" Pan stuttered in shock, lowering her hands to stare with wide eyes at the figure before her. She, Base, Goten, and Vegeta had all aimed blasts that had struck and gone harmlessly through her. The other's had their hands raised to do likewise, but they'd paused to stare with shock when no damage was delivered.

Kijo turned her head back to face them; her image flickered with static for a moment. "Sayonara, Saiya-jin no ouji, may your rest be eternally peaceful." She struck up that musical laugh again as her image flickered again and she winked out of existence. A small machine no bigger then a pager dropped to the grass.

"Hologram," said Bulma breathlessly.

They all stared with wide eyes at the tiny machine till the stomping of feet running was heard. Seconds later Trunks came charging out of the lab, looking around with concern. 

"What happened?!" he asked, seeing the crater in the lawn and everyone's expressions.

"You're a little too late, Trunks," said Goten. "She's gone." he glanced down at the machine. "If she was ever here to begin with."

"Huh?" said Trunks in confusion.

Everyone stopped dead as Krillin reached up and fisted a hand in the front of Vegeta's shirt, yanking the Saiya-jin prince down to his height. "Vegeta," his voice shook with rage. "Why…? Why?! Tell me why?!" he shouted fisting his other hand in the Saiya-jin's shirt.

"She's not worth it."

Vegeta jerked back a step, head tilted back. Krillin, shaking with rage, slowly lowered his clenched fist. Everyone seemed to hold his or her breath as the Saiya-jin prince slowly stood up straight and titled his head down. A line of blood ran down the corner of his mouth from the blow to the face the short human had given him. His eyes were dancing black fire again, but he made no move to return the favor. His posture was strangely undefensive. Vegeta's tongue licked out to gather the line of blood, then he spat as if he didn't like the taste of it.

"You're no better then they are, Vegeta," said Krillin in a cold voice.

"What did you expect me to do, human?" Venom dripped from his voice when he spoke the word human.

"Help them! Do whatever it took to get them back!" shouted Krillin.

"Help them," said Vegeta, his voice so bleak it sent a chill down their spines. "Save them so that others can die, you mean."

"What?!" demanded Krillin.

"You are a fool, Krillin. You wanted me to say 'yes'?" rage flickered in his voice. "You want me to save your damn woman and her damn brother, this pathetic planet, and go out and start committing mass genocide again?!" shouted the prince in open rage. "I am no man's property! No creature's hound! Never again! Never again will another rule over me! I refuse to be used like that again!" shouted the Saiya-jin, teeth bared in an animal-like snarl. So furious were his words that everyone close to him took a step back. 

For a moment Krillin looked scared of him. Then understanding, and last a little ashamed thought most of the shame was masked by worry. "She's my wife, Vegeta," he said softly, mournfully.

Vegeta glared as him and wordlessly stalked out to stand outside not far from them or the house. "They're not helpless," said Vegeta, voice still hard, but loud enough for them to hear. "If they're alive then I won't count them out…. not yet." He tilted his head back and glazed up at the sky; late it was, but it was still light out. A thumbnail portion of the moon could be seen already high in the sky. 

"That bitch is hard to kill… I should know," he muttered to himself. 


	9. Chapter 8: A Galactic Game of Chess Pawn...

****

War Of Worlds

Chapter8: A Galactic Game of Chess/ Pawn takes Queen

Sound echoed around, a loud whizzing pant with a bubbling liquid tone to it. Bad, it was really bad now; there was no telling how much time was left. Red bubbles, like floating balls of jelly, wiggled past-not so many as there had been, but that wasn't necessarily a good sign. Condensation formed on the hard plastic and small beads of liquid pooled together and streaked down, making visibility harder. It was cold, it was dark, it was lonely. But so long as she felt this she knew one thing for certain: she was alive.

Juuhachi coughed wishing, not for the first time, that she could press her hand to her mouth to stifle it. The smallest sounds seemed to be magnified by her helmet and they bounced around endlessly, threatening to drive her deaf and mad. The sound of her own labored breathing had long ago begun to annoy her and the damp bog-like moistness of the helmet made her already uncomfortable condition that much more uncomfortable. Swallowing hard, she glanced down to her side where a blood stained red glove pressed to her shoulder in an attempt to lessen the loss of blood. She knew she was weak and getting weaker, but she was almost there now; she wasn't about to give up. 

She slowly kicked her feet as if swimming through the black-sea of space, but it was her weakened power that was really propelling her forward. Not as fast as when she'd started, but she was getting there: slowly but surely. She ran her tongue over her lips to moisten them and couldn't help the small smile of triumph that crossed her face as her hand reached out and touched smooth hard metal: the hull of a large battleship. 

"Made it," she whispered, the sound amplified by her helmet many times over. "Now," she rasped, turning around and lifting her hand that had been pressed to her chest, before her face. She faced her forearm and with her other hand reached up and flipped open a small panel built into the suit. Tapping with numb fingers she pressed the thankfully large buttons until the tiny screen, no bigger then a post-it note, flashed on to display a chart with a green line swinging in a circle like a compass. Every time the green bar flashed over a certain spot a red dot would flash. She smiled to herself and glanced at the ship's side, "I'm lucky... he's in range and not far away." She frowned at the watery sound of her own breathing. Must have liquid in my lungs, she silently told herself. Giving a small grunt, she pushed off the ship and let the momentum of the movement float her slowly in the right direction, conserving some of her energy by pulling and pushing herself along with help from the ship.

"Wait for me Juunana... I'm coming."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Juunana groaned and rolled over. For some reason his bed was unusually hard today. It's like I'm sleeping on a hard tile floor... wait a minute!

The android peeked open an eyelid and looked around. He groaned again and sat up. "I 'am' sleeping on a hard tile floor," he muttered, lifting a hand and scrubbing it through his shoulder length black hair. A wave of nausea hit him hard and he hauled in several deep lung-full of air before it slowly began to fade. Drugs, they'd give him some kind of drug, probably a sedative to keep him knocked out. Unfortunately for them, drugs rarely worked on him. He didn't have enough organic components left for any herbal substances or chemicals to be 100% effective, and what was still organic had been enhanced in some way or form meaning he needed a much larger dosage before anything would work. His stomach churned again. Maybe they had thought to give him a large dosage. It was doing a really number on his stomach.

He surveyed his surroundings. A plain square room: the only things in it besides walls were himself, a window showing the black speckled with white vastness of space, and a rectangular pad covered in various buttons next to the door. His next observation was himself. He was clean. Clean was an understatement: he'd been sterilized. He had the impression that if someone rubbed a finger over his skin it would have made a squeaky clean sound. What had they done to him?! Frowning slightly as he moved to get to his feet, he winced at a pain in his abdomen. Lightly, he fingered the hurt spot through his tight Capsule Corps jumpsuit, then unzipped it and studied the area. There was a light line across his stomach, almost like a faded scar. It was definitely tender when he touched it, but other then that he could have mistaken it for an old wound received years ago. Though he couldn't remember getting any serious injuries at that particular spot... strange. 

Ignoring the ache in his stomach, he stood up and walked over to the door to check out the control pad there. First things first, I get out of this box, then I'll make those bastards wish they'd never been born for what they've done to Juuhachi. Then I'm off this piece of junk and back to earth. There were other steps between those ones, like finding his ship or a new one, and getting back at that demon bitch, who'd fried his bacon, but he'd deal with them as they came. He reached out his hand for the pad and jerked it back as an invisible field zapped him. Looking his hand over he decided the spark had been nothing more then good old electricity-one his close friends. He smiled as he reached out again and the tingling jolt of electricity coursed through him. The sensation was similar to sticking your tongue out and touching the end of a battery, only much, much more powerful. Enjoying the sweet jolt of power, he reached over and dug his fingertips under the metal control pad. One good tug was all it took to rip it loose from the wall. Once the pad hung loose, supported only by a few attached wires, the electricity stopped. Too easy, he thought, scanning the wires and mechanics of the pad. He stopped for a moment to try and flatten down his hair, which had gotten a little charge of static with the jolt. God, I wonder if I look like a Saiya-jin right now, he absentmindedly thought after failing to calm his hair with a few strokes of his hand. Lucky for him the black strands went flat again when he touched the metal pad.

"Child's play," he smiled, cutting a pair of wires. He twisted one broken end to the other opposite wire's end and was moving to do the same with the two remaining cut wires when a low dull thud was heard. Spinning around, his eyes flashed around the plain room and widened as they landed on the window or what was outside the window.

"Juu... Juuhachi..." he whispered in shock. "Juuhachi!" he called louder as an overjoyed smiled curved his face. He dropped the metal pad and ran over to the window peer at his sister. He at once noted the red bloodstain covering her breast and shoulder, but she drew his eyes back to hers by tapping on the glass. Once sure she'd gotten his full attention she began speaking, exaggerating every syllable with her lips in the hope he'd be able to read them. Sound couldn't reach him where she was.

"Air... lock..." sounded out Juunana. He nodded his head, and pointed to his right. "I'll try and find one that way," he mouthed.

The blond paused to decipher his words, then nodded, pushing off the ship to head in that direction.

Juunana wore a smug turn to his lips as he hurried over to the control pad and finished twisting the last two ends together. Juuhachi was alive and together it won't take much for them to cripple this ship-that is, if they didn't run into that woman. The doors slid open and he peered through them, looking left and right before moving down the hall, looking through door ways and windows into rooms to see if he could find some kind of air lock to let his sister in with. He stalked as silently as a cat, ducking out of sight or jumping up to hide on the ceiling, holding onto sides or any fixtures he found. Luckily for him there weren't many soldiers wandering the halls, and the few that were didn't seem very alert. He could have easily killed them, but wanted to remain unseen till he had Juuhachi inside with him. 

He peered through a small glass window in a door to see some kind of large lab or mechanic's room. Various machines lined the walls and a few crewmen moved about working or talking. Half a dozen soldiers also milled about the room armed, but looked relaxed and no more alert then the soldiers in the halls had been. Across the room appeared to be some kind or large hatch door that jutted out into the room in the form of rectangular box. If his hunch was right, that was an air lock, probably so they could transport large equipment into the room easily. It would serve his purpose just fine he decided; now all he needed was to get rid of the work force.

So intent was he on his study of the room that he didn't notice the man walking down the hall in his direction. Of course so intent on the paper he was reading, the man also didn't see him till he stopped in front of the door next to Juunana and finally looked up from his papers. Both men froze, not knowing what to make of each other having never seen anything like them. The creature before Juunana was purple with blond hair cut short in back and long in front. What looked like a pair of dog ears and tail topped his head and backside, only the hairs looked like coarse wire more then fur. He wore a white and red long-tailed coat like the men inside the lab and a white cap cut for his ears. Juunana shrugged and punched the canine humanoid in the face, efficiently knocking it out cold. He caught the strange dog man on the way down and dragged him over to the nearest room. He came back out of the room with the alien's coat and hat, his face buried in the papers the creature had been reading. He strolled over to the door, which slid open for him with no trouble, and walked into the room making little hmm sounds to himself as if he were truly interested in the paper before him. Which wasn't so since he had no idea what so ever how to read the weird print.

None of the soldiers or personal noticed him as anything out of the ordinary, which was lucky for him. The android walked right up to one of the soldiers standing guard and peered harder at the papers, stoking his chin with one hand and making a loud hmm sound. The soldier gave him a questioning look, raising an eyebrow as if to say 'what?'

"Say, friend, could you help me," said Juunana, holding up the paper with the print facing the soldier's way. "I forgot my glasses, what's this say?" he asked, shoving the paper in the guard's face.

"Glasses?" said the soldier blinking at the close print. "What are glass-" he never finished his sentence as Juunana drew back his fist and slammed it behind the papers right into the soldier's face. The poor guard never saw it coming.

Juunana now had everyone's attention as the guard crumpled to the floor like a sack of rice dropped from a truck. Blood rolled out on the floor from the soldier's nose.

Juunana wondered if he could milk his disguise a little more and decided with a mental shrug it was worth a try. 

"What you meant it's a pornographic story?!" Juunana exclaimed, picking up one of the sheets that had yet to be soaked in blood. "Man, get a hold of yourself," he said, nudging the downed man with his foot. "You're going to bleed to death with a nose bleed like that."

"Huh?" said two of the other guards, moving to peer over Juunana's shoulder at the paper he held. They soon joined their friend on the floor both with matching bloody noses through it was hardly from the paper Juunana held.

Juunana turned around and made a cute shrug, sticking out his tongue. "I guess it was just too much for them to handle," he smiled, before charging at the three remaining guards who were still shocked over the whole thing.

Juunana's palm slammed under one soldier's chin. A loud crack was heard before the soldier crumpled to the floor. The android blurred away to the next soldier and swung his leg up into a kick. His knee pushed deep into the creature's stomach with the satisfying sound of air leaving his lungs. He stepped back and watched the creature double over, holding its gut in pain, then interlaced his fingers and slammed them down on the back of the soldier's exposed neck. Five down, one to go. Juunana turned to look at the last soldier who fumbled with his gun and managed to raise it and fire. The android blurred away again, appearing for a moment and blurred off again, repeating this move several times. He then blurred off and didn't reappear till the soldier had stopped shooting. The lone remaining man stood drawing in ragged pants of air and surveying the damage he'd made. The lab techs were all down on the floor. Most didn't move, but some groaned in pain. All of them were shot full of holes from the soldier's wild firing. The soldier scanned frantically for Juunana, stepping backwards as he did. He froze and gasped as someone tapped lightly on his shoulder. Paling he turned and looked at the android over his shoulder.

"Yo," said Juunana, saluting him with two fingers to his temple. "Nice shooting, you got them all."

With a cry the man wheeled, intending to let loose another volley of blasts, but never got the chance as Juunana's hand drove into his chest ripping right out the back of the twitching man's body.

"Why... you," gasped the man bloodily before Juunana jerked his hand out and let the now dead man dropped to the ground. Juunana made a face and flicked his hand, splattering drops of blood on the floor. "Should have broken his neck, less of a mess," he muttered, pulling off the hat and coat. He wiped his bloody hand off on the coat and let it fall to the floor.

"Now then," he said, moving towards the hatch. He grinned as he saw Juuhachi waving at him from one of the large windows built into the ship's side. She flashed him the thumbs up sign and 'swam' over to the hatch while Juunana moved over to the hatch's controls and studied them. He had no idea what the symbols on the controls meant so he simple torn the outer cover off and peered into the wire works till he figured out what did what. Tying off some wires he watched through the glass window on the door besides him as the outer door opened and Juuhachi moved into the room. The blond android pushed a few buttons on the control inside the room and he watched as the outer door closed and the room was pressurized. That is, he watched Juuhachi fall to the floor in a crumpled mess curling slightly in pain.

"Juuhachi!" he shouted, moving over and ripping the hatch on his side off to go to his sister. He knelt down besides her and shook her gently. "Are you all right?"

"Uhnn... no," groaned the female android, still clutching her wound.

He helped her remove her helmet and all but ripped the bulky space suite off her frame to reveal the damage she'd taken.

"This is bad," he said softly probing the entry hole. He lifted her slightly and studied the exit wound. "I can't believe it went all the way through you! What kind of weapons do these things have?!" he muttered angrily.

"I let my defensives down. I didn't expect them to have a ship hiding behind the moon, nor that they could reach me from that distance. She laughed softly. "Sloppy."

"Well, just don't ever let it happen again."

"I won't if I can help it," she smiled, moving to sit up with some pain. "I didn't realize how weak I'd gotten."

"You've probably lost a lot of blood. That's the only excuse I can think of for you losing power," said Juunana, lifting her up and carrying her into the lab to look for something he could use as make shift bandages.

"You're probably right," said Juuhachi, sighing and leaning back against the wall he'd propped her against. "Our blood cells do act like batteries all lined up in a circuit. Less blood, less power," she muttered, reaching up to hold her wound once more.

Juunana returned with a white shirt and knelt down beside her to start tearing the fabric into strips. He bunched two wads of shirt up at both entry and exit wound, then wrapped the white strips around her chest and shoulder to hold them in place.

"I think that should hold for awhile, at least if you don't move too much. Can you stand?"

Juuhachi used the wall behind her to slowly get to her feet. She leaned against it, but gave her twin a small smile. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be able to out run you."

Juunana snorted. "I doubt it, don't push yourself okay. One brush with death a day is enough." He jerked his head around and pointed with a thumb. "I found some clean space suits. We should probably put them on in case we have to go outside the ship for some reason. We'll also blend in better that way. No point in them knowing we're from earth if were can help it. You're in no condition to fight."

"Let them know, I'd like to repay them for what they did," Juuhachi growled, pushing off from the wall and standing up straight.

"Me too, but I don't think it's wise to fight our way out."

Juuhachi reluctantly agreed with him, nodding her head.

The two donned the spare suits, which molded to fit their forms. Juuhachi made a remark about feeling naked in it compared to the bulky CC one. The suits were red and black and hugged every line and curve leaving nothing to the imagination as far as a person's three sizes went. A domed helmet locked onto the hard neck and shoulder region, which housing all the suit's functions inside it. The hard suit section also curved down the back to hold an amazingly compact tank of multiple gases. Apparently not all species on this ship breathed oxygen, which Juunana discovered after breathing in a lung full of helium. They fooled around with the suits till they were pretty sure they understood it and had all the settings correct. Two little switches, one on each hip, were small boosters to propel a person forward. The thick smooth ski-like boots had built in magnets. Communication and scanning equipment was assessable by eye movements in the helmet. The wearer could bring up star maps and radar just by looking at a small box in their visors and blinking at it. It caused the two of them a little trouble at first since stuff kept popping up without warning when they let their eyes wondered. Even a few weapons were built into the suit-mainly in the thick arm braces built of the same hard substance as the boots and shoulder region.

"Not bad," comment Juuhachi after she'd finished setting the suit functions to support a humanoid like herself. "I imagine Bulma's going to want these when we get back." She marched over to the door. "Come on, let's find our ship and get the hell off this piece of junk."

Juunana was all too willing to comply. They walked down the halls, spotting various alien life forms as they went. The two were amazed at all the different species. Apparently Lucifer had a very diverse group of people working for him, which worried the two androids. Just how many different planets and species supported this enemy? The evidence they were seeing suggested that it was a lot, meaning trouble for Earth. They could be overrun by more advanced technology, more powerful fighters, or just sheer numbers and resources. Chances were that if Lucifer's forces were serious about taking over Earth, they could very well do it as earth's defensives stood now.

As they walked down the halls many species of aliens gave them glances, but luckily none showed them too much attention. If anything, Juunana was betting they were wondering why he and Juuhachi wore their helmets, which was to cover their human appearances.

"Juunana? Do you have any idea where we are?" asked Juuhachi.

Juunana shook his head. "Haven't a clue, everything looks the same to me."

Juhachi made a frustrated sound. "This ship is so big, we'll never find our ship at this rate." She stopped and peered down a large corridor where plenty of aliens were walking back and forth, many talking to each other in strange tongues. At the end she could see a large room where many crewmen stood at consoles that showed charts of what looked like different sections of the ship and gages of some kind.

"What do you make of that?" asked Juuhachi.

"It looks like a engineering room of some kind," said Juunana walking up to stand beside her. He couldn't see the wicked little smile that had curved her lips, but he could hear it in her voice as she spoke again.

"I've got an idea, follow me."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lady Kijo sighed and pressed the stop button next to her, turning off the hologram she's been using to speak to the Saiya-jin no ouji. She frowned. "I don't like being denied," she muttered, as if Vegeta's refusal to join was an insult to her pride. It might have been. Few could say no to her-maybe she should have gone in person. 

Her powers of 'persuasion' were much stronger in person. She smirked to herself, recalling the reactions the males had to her presence. True, the hologram was virtually an exact duplicate from sight to smell, but it was still an image and not her personal self. This particular 'power' was one of the reasons she held the positions she now did as Lucifer's second in command. As far as Akumas went, one might deem her a succubus, a female sex demon. That, combined with her fighting strength and skills had quickly promoted her to the top. Most males and a fair amount of females were simply drawn in by her. Those powers had no hold on someone that had given themselves heart and soul to another, someone who loved their partner to the point that they simple had no room for another to try and worm their way in. Of course, if she really put her mind to it she could probably shatter another's hold on their mate. It might take awhile and every ounce of her skill to do it, but she doubted anyone could truly resist her forever. That had been her reason for wanting Vegeta to think about her proposal; if she'd used enough of her influence on him she might have been able to turn him. Though, he was a strong one... it could have taken years to do or she could have used a kind of forced bonding that she really didn't want to do with someone she hardly knew. That kind of bonding usually left the one forced into it emotionless. 

She sighed again. It didn't matter now he'd flat out refused. Refused! Her! It boiled her blood just thinking about it, he hadn't shown any indication he'd been affected at all by her charm! "Devoted," she muttered in an unhappy voice, thinking of that blue-haired human who'd grabbed him by the tail once she'd appeared. Women did have a tendency to sense her power, especially towards males they claimed as their own.

A beep was heard signaling she had a call. She snorted, easily guessing who it was. "Go ahead."

A screen appeared to her side with an image of the 'good' doctor Mono on it. "Well, Lady? Did he agree?"

Lady Kigo frowned and looked to the side. "No," she muttered, not needing to look to see the look of triumph on the doctor's face.

"Then I am free to make him one of my test subjects when he is captured, right?" he asked, hunger for blood and science lacing his voice.

Kigo sighed yet again. "I can't say for sure, good doctor. I'll have to report to Lord Lucifer first with his answer, but I imagine you will get him if we do capture him."

"If?" said Mono. "You don't sound confident that you can capture him."

"I might be able to kill him, but bringing him in alive is another matter. Those eyes... eyes only belonging to one who was born to lead, born to rule, born to fight and win.... Eyes just like Lucifer's...." She turned back to look at the screen. "He will not be easy to overcome, no matter how primitive the planet he currently occupies is."

The good doctor opened his mouth to reply but a blast of an alarm cut him off. Red lights flashed as a siren screeched.

"What in the world?" shouted Lady Kigo, right before the whole ship rocked. She gasped as she was suddenly weightless, her feet leaving the floor to hold her suspended in the air. In the screen Doc. Mono gave a cry and was suddenly also floating in mid air. "Someone turned off the gravity and life support systems," said Kigo narrowing her eyes. She turned and kicked her way through the room to the door.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Juunana and Juuhachi stood back to back in the middle of the engineering room, both launching blasts from their hands at the many crewmen and computer conceals around the room. It didn't take long before no one moved and sparks flew from destroyed machines. The air was filled with the scream of sirens and the flashing of red lights, the ship itself rocked uncertainly, its core reduced to a hunk of scrap leaving it to flounder in space adrift.

The two androids stepped back and surveyed their handy work.

"Think we over did it a little?" asked Juunana.

In answer Juuhachi fired another blast at one machine that still looked slightly intact. "No, I'd like to see them repair this mess. They'll be lucky is they can keep this piece of shit from crashing into the moon." She dusted off her hands and walked over to one of the conceals to peer at the different maps showing sections of the ship; luckily for them the maps had for the most part been undamaged by their attack. She reached up a hand and traced it over the charts. "There's at least a dozen docking bays all over this ship," she muttered in a displeased voice.

Juunana moved to stand next to her and studied the charts. "This one," he said pointing to a docking bay near the nose of the ship. "I remember being pulled in from the front of the ship."

"All right, let's go then," said Juuhachi, turning and running out of the room, Juunana close behind her. The two were greeted by a groups of floating soldiers all armed and pointing their weapons at them.

"Looks like they came to see us off," said Juunana, standing by his sister.

Juuhachi made a smug sound and turned off the magnets on her boots to free float as well.

"Take it easy, you're hurt remember," cautioned Juunana, doing the same.

"Oh, I remember." said Juuhachi, a hint of cold rage in her voice. "I remember all too well!" she shouted, charging forward and slamming into the rank of soldiers, knocking them down like a bowling ball among pins.

Juunana snorted and charged in after her as the soldiers fired wildly, blasts scorching walls, floors, and ceilings, but not once managing to hit either android as the two struck killer blows with every swing and kick. It was a matter of mere minutes before the two were the only ones still 'standing'. The slain floated limply in the gravity-less ship.

"Hurry," called Juunana, pushing off a wall and heading toward the ship's nose.

The two floated down the hall, both battle tense in case another attack came, but to their surprise no one tried to stop them. In fact, the whole ship was in chaos. Crewmen floated about the rooms and halls in a panic, some started gasping and wheezing as if it were hard to breath. Many now wore those molding red and black space suits moving with all speed down the halls. In all the pandemonium it was easy for the two to slip by unnoticed. Undoubtedly the ship could no longer support most of the life forms it housed. They were probably trying to fix the damage or evacuate.

Juunana smiled to himself as he came to the scorched and charred hallway he'd battled in earlier-no doubt about it they were close to the CC ship now. He stopped dead, almost making his sister ram into his back. His eyes widened and his fists clenched as he spotted a familiar woman with long sea green hair floating through the hall in front of him. Small bat like wings flapped on her back as if to aid her movements though it was doubtlessly her impressive ki that was moving her alone.

"It's her..." he growled, moving to charge the strange woman. He was stopped as a pair of arms locked around him from behind and held him back.

"Let go, Juuhachi! I'm going to get that bitch!" he hissed, thrashing in her hold.

"Not now, Juunana," said Juuhachi. "Another time, we need to get out of here. This place is very unstable and I don't want to be on it longer then we have to. It could crash or the crew might turn on each other in an attempt to fee. We need to go while we still can."

Juunana growled softly, but reluctantly agreed. His eyes followed the beautiful demoness as she 'swam' by and into a room out of his sight. He wondered if she'd survive as Juuhachi dragged him down the rest of the hall and into a docking bay that was empty of all working ships save an odd craft with the Capsule Corps logo on the side.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Lady Kigo was furious. She moved to her private communications room and punched in her special key code. Luckily for her the equipment had its own power supply and wasn't hooked into the ship's network, which had been shot to hell. The machines hummed and after a short pause a hologram appeared before her. Kijo knelt as best she could with out gravity to hold her down, bowing her head in shame. "Lord Lucifer."

"Kigo, you appear to be having some difficulties," spoke the mellow tone.

"My Lord, we've suffered great damages. The engine room has been completely destroyed and we are adrift at the moment," she regretfully reported.

The lord did not looked pleased with her report his hand crushed a delicate looking wineglass he held. "Adrift? You disappoint me, Kigo, I did not except you of all people to play into those earthlings hands."

"Forgive me, lord. The Saiya-jin Vegeta refused our offer, he has declared himself your enemy. I can move to destroy this threat now before it can take root, I just need your say so."

Lucifer paused as if considering. "How long till you can repair your ship, Lady?"

"Without spare parts... she may never be fully functional again," said Kijo softly, shame lacing her voice. She lifted her head. "But I can kill him lord, I can without my ship, I will fight him on his own terrain."

Lucifer shook his head. "Three ships," he muttered. "This Saiya-jin is proving to be an amusing enemy, not to mention a costly one. No, my Lady Kijo, you will evacuate as many crewmen as you can and return to me. We must rethink or strategy against this Saiya-jin."

"My Lord-!" Kijo started to protest.

"Return!" Lucifer barked. "You are of more use to me alive then dead."

Kijo bowed her head again. "If you wish it, my lord, I will comply."

Lucifer nodded his head. "The Saiya-jin will pay for this outrage, I assure you he will, my Lady Kijo. Your pride shall be avenged. Till then serve has you have, I await your return to me." The screen displaying his image winked out.

Kijo sat floating in the room for several seconds longer before sighing and moving to leave. If I didn't know any better I think Lucifer looked excited by this challenge, Kijo thought silently to herself. Lucifer had decided to concur all of space simple because he was bored. He had thought it would bring him a thrilling challenge, but the demon lord was disappointed to say the least. He rarely fought himself; few could last more then a few seconds against his strength. It was like some giant game of chess. He moved his armies as one would the pieces, yet there was no one across the board to play against. The opposing pieces moved themselves, worked individually and were destroyed for their lack of union. Lucifer longed for, craved an opponent worthy to face him, a rival for him to throw his might against and for once not overwhelm them in the first wave. Till now she'd thought that none could possibly give him that fight he wished for, but she'd never seen another with eyes like Lucifer's before. She wondered if it were possible for that lone Saiya-jin prince to put up the struggle Lucifer craved. She doubted it. Even if his strength could match Lucifer's, which she seriously doubted, he held only one pawn in the galactic game of chess. One pawn alone couldn't hope to capture the enemy's king... or could it...?

Shaking her head, Kijo moved down the chaotic hallways barking orders for ships to be readied and crewmen to prepare to depart. She stopped before one station that was still operational to see that one crewman had ordered a group of fighters out against some unknown foe. When she questioned him about it the soldier reported that the strange enemy ship had been spotted leaving one of the docking bays.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Juunana steered the craft cursing as fighter planes chased in pursuit. "Damn! This ship isn't built for fighting," he snarled, cursing again as a blast clipped their side, shaking the whole craft. "Juuhachi, get on line and call Bulma. We might have to abandon this piece of junk if this keeps up."

"Roger," Juuhachi called, swinging into the communications chair and lifting the headset to fit it in place. She turned on the switch and tuned in the right frequency, giving small curses herself as the ship shook and jolted her with ever blast that hit. She yelled for Juunana to quit rocking the boat, and Juunana barked back a sarcastic remark of his own. Just like always.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Bra was now the one seated before the computer console. She still tapped her fingertips on the table and leaned her chin on her hand. It was getting late and they hadn't heard a peep from Juunana or Juuhachi. She yawned loudly and fanned her mouth, finding her watch job unbelievable boring. She stopped short and snapped her head back to the screen as a small bleep sounded from the computer. Her mouth dropped as the CC ship suddenly appeared on the screen and a statically voice that could be no one but Juuhachi called out asking if anyone was there.

"MOM! DAD!" shouted Bra. "I've got them!"

It wasn't long before everyone-truly everyone-had piled into the room, practically plastering Bra to the computer as they crowded in.

"Juuhachi!" shouted Krillin, into the head set.

"Owe! Not so loud!" Juuhachi shouted back.

"You're alive! I can't believe it! I was so worried," cried the ex-monk.

"Yah, I'm alive, but not for long if this keeps up! Give me Bulma!?

"But-" started Krillin.

"Bulma! Now!" she roared, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Wincing slightly and rubbing his ear, Krillin handed the headset to Bulma.

"Juuhachi?" asked Bulma, relieved beyond words when the familiar female voice replied, though her relief was short lived as she listened.

"Bulma, there's another ship. It's hiding behind the moon so we didn't pick it up till it was too late. Juunana and me have managed to cripple it and get away, but we're now being pursued. Send someone up to get us, I don't think this ship can handle going back into the atmosphere any more. We'll try and hold them off, but we might need a little assistance." Static fussed in between her words, making it hard to hear, but she understood for the most part.

"Right, Juuhachi. I'm sending some people up right away, you hang in there," replied Bulma.

"Shit!" cursed Juuhachi, static buzzing loudly. More words were shouted into the headset, but Bulma only make out 'excavating' from the jumble of sound. Her eyes widened in concern as only the loud buzz of static was now heard. She swallowed, fearing the worse, then gave herself a shake and dropped the headset turning to her son. 

"Trunks, get a ship ready now!" she barked. The lavender haired demi-Saiya-jin ran to comply. "Goten, Base, and Vegeta you come with me, we need to get you suited up."

"I'm going too," growled Krillin moving to follow after them as Bulma grabbed her husband by the arm and all but dragged him away.

The rest of the dragon ball crew shouted that they wanted to go and help too.

"I haven't got time to argue," shouted Bulma, quitting them down. "There's only room for six on the ship, that means only four can go since we need two seats for Juunana and Juuhachi. Krillin, she's your wife, you can have the forth seat and that's final."

"One of them can have my seat," said Vegeta, stumbling along next to Bulma who had him in an awkward hold. For once the human women seemed to be over powering him.

She lead them into what looked like a locker room with stalls lined up along the walls. She yanked open one of the stall doors and tossed the startled Saiya-jin prince in. "I don't think so, pal," said Bulma. "You're going, besides, you already agreed to help."

A muffled curse was heard in the stall, something about pushy women.

"Don't argue with me, strip and suit up, or I'll come in there and help you."

"Fine!" growled Vegeta, the sound of fumbling and grumbling was heard.

Bulma gave a small smile of satisfaction and raised up a hand to gesture down the line of stalls. "Pick one and suit up, Trunks should have the ship out and ready to go soon."

Goten, Krillin, and Base picked a stall and moved to get dressed. Base had a little trouble since Almuerzo cheerfully stated she'd help him. The poor Namek sei-jin turned purple and it took him several seconds of struggling to push the giggling girl out of the stall he'd picked before he slammed the door shut and by the sound of it, moved something heavy to block it with. 

"I feel downright stupid in this thing," muttered Vegeta, walking out of his dressing stall in one of the CC's black and yellow space suits, helmet tucked under arm. He reached back and took hold of his tail, shaking his head at the cloth lining designed for it.

"This isn't a fashion statement, Vegeta," said Bulma dryly. 

"Hn," snorted the Saiya-jin, leaning back against the wall and waiting for the others to finish.

Goten came out twice in nothing but his socks and boxer shorts to ask how to put the suit on, causing Pan and Marron to blush, Pan with embarrassment, Marron with another more personal emotion. When he came out for the third time with suit in hand, mouth open to ask another question, Marron gave a frustrated sigh, grabbed Goten by the ear and marched into the stall with demi-Saiya-jin in tow.

Sweat drops ran down the sides of Pan's and Almuerzo's head as the door banged shut behind the two. Protests from Goten could be heard clearly through the thin walls accompanied by sounds of bumping around in the small space and loud grunts. 

"Not fair," pouted Almuerzo, giving a cutesy frown.

"Huh?" said Pan, turning to look at her.

"How come she gets to help Goten, but I don't get to help Base-kun?"

The sweat drop running down the side of Pan's head suddenly got a lot bigger.

When Krillin came out and asked Pan what was wrong, the raven-haired quarter Saiya-jin could only laugh nervously and wave her hand at the ex-monk while casting worried looks at stall the two had vanished in. 

Base appeared next and joined Vegeta in leaning against the wall waiting, staring blankly forward as Almuerzo cooed and fawned over him, telling him how brave, adventurous, and handsome he was like that. For the most part Base's mask held except his ears would twitch every times she commented on his looks. 

Finally Marron and Goten appeared, Goten had a dark blush and a dazed look on his face which quickly vanished once he caught the enraged protective father look he saw on Krillin's. The demi-Saiya-jin laughed nervously rubbing the back of his head. When that failed to make him look innocent in Krillin's eyes, he nervously turned tail and ran for the door shouting, "Trunks, you got that ship ready yet?!"

Frowning, Krillin marched after him, calling out, "Boy!! When this is over we need to talk!"

The Saiya-jin and Namek sei-jin moved after them, followed by the rest of the group. Pan leaned closer to Marron and asked her in a whisper what she'd done.

"I wished him luck and practiced a little French on him," stated Marron calmly. A small smile curved the corner of her mouth as she quickened her steps a little more, taking her past Almuerzo and Pan.

Pan's mouth had dropped open with Marron's answer and she stared at the blonde's backside as she strolled away. "That girl is bold."

"I didn't know Marron spoke French," said Almuerzo cheerfully.

Pan slapped her forehead and groaned at the naive girl next to her. "Maybe you should switch to your other personality for a while, Almuerzo, it's not nearly as sweet and cutesy," she muttered.

"Hmm?" hummed Almuerzo, titling her head to the side and looking at the quarter Saiya-jin as if she didn't understand, which she probably didn't.

"Never mind," sighed Pan.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Juuhachi clung to her seat as the ship spun in a spiral, tossing her around. "Juunana, you're the worst driver I know!" she shouted.

"It's not my fault! They hit one of our boosters and blasted it clean off, that's way we're moving like this!" In other words they were like a bird with one wing flying in circles. "This thing's a lost cause, let's get out of here, we have better chances fighting in hand to hand combat!" he called, unbuckling his seatbelt. 

"I couldn't agree more," said Juuhachi, leaping from her chair and moving over to the locked door on the ship's side. With a yell she kicked the door clean off its hinges and was immediately sucked out with it. Juunana managed to stop himself from being pulled out by catching hold of the doorframe. The pull stopped once all the air had been sucked out of the ship he glanced around looking for Juuhachi who was riding the metal door as if it were a surfboard. She jumped off the door and sent it flying at the closest ship, which crumpled like an aluminum can when they met. Giving a shrug, Juunana pushed off from the ship and none too late as one fighter plane fired a burst at the adrift ship and caused it to explode in a shower of shrapnel. Throwing up a quick shield saved him from damage. He didn't want to take any chances of his suit being ripped. Unlike the CC suit, it was all one piece, and his air supply won't last long if he got a tear. 

Turning, Juunana caught a flying metal piece of ship in his hand. "Two can play that," he shouted before drawing back his hand and hurling the small piece of metal at the ship that'd fired. The metal struck the clear plastic that incased the pilot and protected it from the vacuum of space; it cracked right through the transparent material, which was quickly coated in red. The plane veered wildly out of control. Seeing a potential weapon, Juunana flew over to the ship and landed on its back. Holding on tight, he pushed and pulled on the craft until he had it more or less under his control. "Scrap metal works good, but I think this will be far more effective," shouted the android as he steered the ship toward another plane and released it to collide. More shrapnel hailed out from the two ships as they crashed, pelting the other remaining one. One ship jerked, then went slack in the air, the boosters cutting off abruptly. The now dead fighter ship drifted forward carried on by its momentum; a piece of shrapnel must have damaged some important equipment.

To Juunana's side, Juuhachi was handling herself, though she could feel the scabbing over wound in her shoulder tear open again with her movements. She ground her teeth, ignoring the pain and feel of warm blood sliding down her breasts and sides. With a roar she caught the tail of one plane and began swinging it in a wide circle then released it to crash into another ship. It was pathetic having to fight those toys with the amount of strength they possess; they didn't stand a chance, yet... Juuhachi threw up a shield to protect herself from a volley of shots, the force of the blasts easily threw her across the gravity-less void of space till she smacked into the side of another fighter causing a large dent. The impact jarred her already injured shoulder and made her scream out in pain. She could never get tired, but that didn't mean she couldn't pass out from pain or if she received enough damage. Venting her frustration and pain on the ship she'd hit she turned and broke it in half with one punch. Her shoulder and the arm connected to it were useless know, the pain of moving it made her feel nauseous or close to passing out. She shook her head as black swam over her vision. No! I can't lose it now, got to stay awake! She commanded herself. Blurring away, she danced in and out of the ships' gunfire, moving in close enough to kick the wing off of one of its sides. The clipped ship swung wildly towards her as the pilot fought for control. Too close to dodge, she had no choice but to catch it. Black dots flashed before her eyes as she'd instinctually brought up both arms to catch it. Bile rose in her throat as pain laced up and down her entire body. Her hold on the plane slipped and it slammed into her with bone breaking force, making the pain in her arm unbearable. 

"Juu... na... na," she crocked out before going limp and free floating among the pieces of broken ships.

"Crap!" shouted Juunana, using broken pieces of ship to jump from one to another to reach his twin. He grabbed her and barely had time to twist out of the line of fire as the remaining fighters zoned in on him. Using the clipped fighter plane that had hit Juuhachi for a shield, his eyes scanned around, looking for some advantage or place he could put his sister. As far as he could see, he was in the safest place at the moment, the field of broken ships, and that was hardly safe at all. In fact, there was a real possibility that the ship he had his back to would explode in a shower of shrapnel any moment now. He was severely handicapped now with Juuhachi unconscious and defenseless in his care.

The ship behind him bulged and flew apart in a rain of death. Crying out, Juunana wrapped himself around his twin and threw up a shield. He was tossed endlessly head over heels, crashing and bumping into every piece of scrap in his path till he felt like a pinball. He was quite battered and bruised when he finally stopped his insane roll. Luckily, due to his shield Juuhachi was fine and his suit had suffered no tears, but how long could that be prevented while trying to protect his sister? He hardly had a chance to survey his new position before the fighters came charging. He turned and danced before the lights of death, feeling like he was in one of those old western movies where they shot at the cowboy's feet. 

He jumped up and paled as one blast shot too close for comfort right between his legs. He didn't have time to curse at the one responsible because several more shots had been fired forcing him to lean back and tuck in his arm and legs as the blasts buzzed him. Fighting in space was not his cup of tea! Everything was different: if hit his momentum would never slow unless he stopped himself, he had to be careful of his suit or he'd soon run out of oxygen to breathe, and the most frustrating was he had to use his powers to move at all. With no gravity or resistance, he would just float there helplessly if he didn't. He wasn't used to fighting like this. It put him at an even greater disadvantage. 

One blast nicked the hard material of his boots and sent him spinning in a circle. He fought frantically to stop himself, but knew that the blow had cost him, probably cost him dearly. He half expected to feel another volley tear into him and his O2 to start leaking out. But, instead something grabbed him hard and he was jarred to a halt. Snapping his head up, he saw a none-too-happy looking Vegeta holding on to him. 

"Take a break, android, we'll handle this," said the slightly buzzed voice in his helmet before the Saiya-jin calmly releasing Juunana and spun in a roundhouse kick. Juunana could only gasp in shock as the booted foot connected with his side, causing him to go sailing past the fighter ships that had been circled around him. He grunted as he hit something, through the blow was hardly painful. Lifting his head again he looked back and saw one gray haired human stuffed into a yellow and black CC suit.

"Krillin?" he said in disbelief. 

The ex-monk spared him a small grin before carefully taking his wife from the android and motioning towards another ship with the CC logo painted along its side. As they 'swam' toward it, Juunana noted the Namek sei-jin perched on top of the ship, sitting cross-armed and legged, eyes closed and looking as relaxed as if nothing out of ordinary was happening. It didn't take the android long to figure out that the green one was holding off the stray fighter ships that had branched off to meet them. Their blasts bounced off some kind of shield Juunana had never seen the likes of before, and back, more often then not, at the very ship that had fired the blast. A rather handy technique. Juunana wondered if it might be possible for him to figure out something similar with his own powers, though the energy his body held was far different from ki. There were many things Juuhachi and he couldn't do because of that. Not to mention, Namek sei-jins had strange mental skills that could more accurately be described as magical powers. There was no logically scientific explanation for the magical dragon balls their kind could produce. Some things just couldn't be explained by science. 

He glanced back at his grumpy rescuer to see he as well as the youngest demi-Saiya-jin sired by Son Goku were making quick work of the fighters. He though about going back to help them-he was far from unable to do so. But, he was still concerned for his blond counterpart and decided that his knowledge on her inner components might be of better use to her then his skills in fighting would be to the Saiya-jins at the moment. He followed Krillin and the Namek sei-jin let down his barrier briefly to let them pass through. Then they were inside pulling off their suits and checking over the blond android.

Goten played hopscotch with the fighter planes, jumping from one to the other. He couldn't help the child like laugh that came to his lips; this was fun! 

"Yahoo!" he cried, landing on one tail, feet pressing the flaps, making the plane go flailing out of control. "Ha, ha, this is like a roller coaster!" he cheered as the ship did loop-de-loops and barrel rolls. Still laughing, he steered the ship over to skid its side along another ship's. Both planes lost one of their side wings with the move, and Goten jumped free to let them flounder. He turned to meet another ship charging in his direction and grinned.

"Bleeeeehhh!" he yelled, sticking out his tongue at the plane. He turned around and smacked his rear at the ship. Of course, the pilot couldn't hear him, but Goten's taunts enraged him anyway. "Woohoo!" shouted Goten, doing a back flip out of the way of some rapid firing. "Ha, ha, catch me if you can!" he shouted as the ship followed in hot pursuit, firing a continuous stream of bullets. The nimble demi-Saiya-jin dipped and dove around the blasts, goading the enraged pilot on with the ease in which he evaded all this attack. Still laughing, Goten halted, dove under to the ship's belly as it tried to run him over, and slid down to the ship's tail. He snapped up his foot nailing the craft solidly on its rear. It went spinning away head over tail till in crashed into the moon's barren surface.

"Strike!" Goten cheered, punching a fist up in the 'air'. He turned around to look for another target, but could only stare in shock. Vegeta floated, surrounded by a ship graveyard with his arms crossed, tail lashing back and forth behind him.

"Are you done yet?" questioned the prince in a slightly bored tone.

Goten wordlessly nodded his head.

"Good, let's go," he said, flying back towards the ship. When they got back, Base was still sitting calmly on the CC ship's back. The remains of a few ships drifted around. Goten tried to count how many, but wasn't sure since the ships were mostly pieces and parts now. Vegeta gave a nod to Base and the Namek sei-jin pushed off to join them. Once they were back in the air lock, stripping down to their tight inner purple and white CC suits, Goten turned to Base.

"Ne, Base, how many did you get?"

"Five," replied the Namek sei-jin calmly as the door to the inner ship slid open and Vegeta walked through to head toward the controls and take them home.

"Five?!" Goten's face fell. "I only got three," he said in a disappointed voice. 

"You were goofing off too much. Vegeta-san got the other seven while you were playing."

Goten rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "All work and no play make it a dull day," he said in a sing-song voice jogging into the inner ship.

Base shook his head. "Saiya-jins," he muttered, moving to follow.

* * * * * * * * * * *

"Lady, all our fighters... they've, they've been destroyed," stammered the crewman in disbelief. "The enemy joined with reinforcements. Do you want me to send out another wave?"

Lady Kijo stared out through a large viewing monitor that flickered and buzzed with static making the picture almost impossible to see.

"Lady?"

"No, don't send out any more fighters. Let them go."

"But lady," protested the crewman. He was cut short with a haunting look from Kijo's eyes. 

"I did not wish you to send out the first wave, solider. You should lean not to go over my head."

The soldier trembled in fear. "Fo-forgive me lady. I did not mean to over step my self."

After glaring at the man for several more seconds, watching him sweat under her gaze, she turned it back to the fuzzy monitor.

"Now the stage is set and I can pull the strings on my pretty metal doll," she laughed softly, earning a confused look from the crewman.

"Hurry up with the preparations, we will leave within the hour," Kijo stated, turning and floating down the hall.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Trunks sat on the wooden desk constructed against the side of Capsule Corps to hold barbecues and causal dinner parties outside on. His legs were threaded through the wide bars of the railing, and his hands rested on the wood as he gazed over their large backyard. Down on the ground Marron and Almuerzo sat on a pair of swings that was part of jungle gym he and Bra use to play on. Bra stood leaning against one of the swings' support poles. The three were chatting quietly with each other, but Trunks was too far away to hear what they were saying.

"Mind if I join you?" asked a familiar voice from behind. He turned and looked at the raven-haired female behind him. A small smile graced his lips as he reached down and patted the wood next to him.

Pan eased herself down and treaded her legs through the bars as he had, she kicked her feet softly as she peered down at the girls.

"Wonder what they're talking about," said Trunks ideally.

"Huh, probably talking about boys and what kind of clothes make their eyes pop out of their heads," said Pan lifting her chin slightly as if that kind of conversation was too beneath her to join in. 

Trunks laughed softly. "Then I'm glad you're not down there plotting to make me blind myself."

"And what's that suppose to mean?" demanded Pan defensively.

Trunks' eyes widened realizing how that might have sound. "No I didn't mean it like that, really, Pan, I like how you dress."

Pan gave him a skeptical look and glanced down at her shirt. She lifted a hand and pulled on the plain red top she wore. Okay so she didn't dress hot to trot like Bra or Marron or even Almuerzo: big deal. Her clothes were comfortable... well maybe they hide too much, lord knows she didn't need to hide any of her good features. Maybe I should let Bra talk me into being her life-size Barbie doll for a day or two, I won't mind if Trunks' eyes looked like they'd come out of his head once and awhile. She pictured herself in one of Bra's tight little mini dresses with three-inch heels and a few touches of make-up. In the picture she tripped on the heels to land on her face, smudged her make-up, and flashed everyone around her. Yah, I'm sure that'll make Trunks' eyes widen, widen in embarrassment, thought Pan with a sigh. I'm just not lady material she told herself. The thought of a beautiful lady caused her to conjure up an image of Kigo. She began to unconsciously grind her teeth together. Lady Kigo: member of the enemy, Lucifer's army. She was definitely the definition of a high born lady. She probably attended fancy dinners and balls, wore marvelous gowns that made men drool, and spent her times making polite conversation with handsome people while daintily eating some expensive dish. The though made her cringe. She'd once gone to a party like that as Trunks' date, and the experience had not been as fun as she'd imagined. Trunks had to spend most of his time entertaining his guest and making business deals, she was unbelievably uncomfortable in her modest yet fairly handsome gown, and she'd been down right frustrated when it came to eating. They'd served small portions and everyone had stared at her when she'd torn into it and demanded more. It certainly hadn't been enough for a quarter Saiya-jin; she wondered how Trunks managed at those parties.

A frown crossed Pan's face. We're so different, Trunks and me, what if he someday finds another girl who fits him better? Her eyes widened in horror as in her mind's eye Lady Kigo curtsied to Trunks who bowed back and offered her his arm which she took: a lord and his lady. They even looked good together in her mental image. She shook her head rapidly to clear it; over my dead body!

"Pan?"

"Huh?" said Pan, turning back to look at him.

"Something wrong?" he asked, concern showing in his eyes.

"Uh... no," she said looking down at her feet. Trunks won't dump me for some dumb hussy, he's not that kind of guy. She felt a little guilty for thinking such things. Trunks had had plenty of chances to find someone better; women practically threw themselves at him. Yet he'd remained faithful through it all, if anything his secretaries were always laughing about how shy he was with women, likewise afraid of the lustful glimmer in their eyes. Maybe he was, maybe that was why he chose a tomboy for a girlfriend? She sighed again and leaned her forehead on the bars. That woman's just got me worked up, I don't like her, I don't like her one little bit. At least Trunks wasn't there when she came in, I don't know what I would have done if she'd looked at him twice... probably have tried to kill her, hologram or not.

Trunks glanced at the quarter Saiya-jin to his side, she seemed troubled about something, not that he was any better. He could feel himself beginning to sweat, his heart pounding at his ribcage. Okay, we're finally alone, he thought nervously drumming his fingertips on one of the bars. He squirmed, thigh pressing against one of the bars enough for him to feel every corner of the small box in his pocket. 

Ask her fool! Part of him yelled.

I will, I will, I'm just working up to it. 

You're scared senseless accused the voice.

Trunks bit his lip, beginning to fidget.

It's not that hard, Einstein. Here it goes like this: you pull out the box, open it, and say 'Will you Marry me' ...see, nothing too it.

Nothing too it! That's harder then fighting Majin Buu. Alone! With my hand tied behind my back! Blindfolded!

I can't believe we're the same person said the voice in an annoyed tone.

Maybe right now isn't a good time to ask. You know we still don't know about Juuhachi and everyone.

I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight, the voice began to sing in an annoying mimic of some food commercial he'd heard on TV.

Ah! You're not helping! 

What me to hold your hand? Taunted the voice.

That's it I'm going to do it!

About time!

Trunks turned to face Pan. "Pan-!"

Pan's head was tilted back, looking at the sky, and a smile crossed her face. "Look! They're back!" she shouted.

"Huh?" said Trunks, in bewilderment, looking up to see a CC ship falling to earth.

"Come on!" shouted Pan, getting up. She grabbed his arm and all but dragged him along.

Trunks groaned and slapped a hand over his face. I was so close! Sooooo close! He mentally whined. 

Pathetic... said the voice in a mellow tone. 

Trunks and Pan joined Bulma, Bra, Marron, and Almuerzo as they watched and waited for the others to exist the ship.

Vegeta was the first out and greeted his wife with a grunt and a jerk of his head towards Juuhachi as Juunana and Krillin carried her out between them. 

Bulma gasped and hurried over to the blond android to see the damage. "Shoulder wound, went all the way through," she muttered to herself gently probing the injury. "Nothing too life threatening," she announced loud enough to them all. "Juunana, you'll have to help me, I'm not familiar with her all her mechanical parts and if she need blood I don't think any but yours will do." The black haired android wordlessly nodded and together he and Krillin carried Juuhachi into the house after Bulma.

Goten came out next with Base behind him. Marron stepped up to greeted him.

Goten smile and gave her the thumbs up. "Piece of cake, Marron, your mom's not too hurt and they even managed to take out another one of those battleships by themselves."

Marron smiled and moved over to his side taking his hand to pull him away from the others. "Were you hurt?" they heard her ask as the pair stepped away. Goten could be seen shaking his head vigorously and beginning to explain the fight with large gestures of his hands and arms. 

"Those two," Bra smiled, watching them go. She turned and grinned as the other two by her side.

"Base-kun!"

"Huh? Wah!"

She began to giggle as the three-eyed beauty glumped the large shy Namek sei-jin, who seemed more confused than anything else. 

"Oh, Base, you don't know how worried I was for you, I-" the girl paused as a loose leaf drifted by and landed on her nose. She wiggled her nose like a rabbit. "Ah...ah...-ah-achoo!"

In a flash the girl's hair turned from black to the palest sun blond, and the all too innocent look on her face vanished just as quickly.

"Huh?" Base uttered, looking down at her.

Almuerzo tossed her long hair, and glanced over her shoulder at him. "My, aren't you a large green hunk of eye candy," she purred in a sexy tone.

"Huh?!" Base uttered, much louder.

"Let's see what you taste like, shall we?" she grinned, grabbing hold of the Namek sei-jin.

"Ahhh! Let go!" cried Base, backing up and pin wheeling his arms. He fell over the railing with Almuerzo still clinging to his front. Their legs and hips were the only parts of them now visible to the rest of the group. Base kicked his long legs in a panicked way while muffled protests were hurried.

"You go sister," cheered Bra, using one of Almuerzo's favorite saying in that form. 

Trunks and Pan just looked on with wide eyes as the seconds ticked by. Base's struggles didn't lessen. If anything they go more wild as time passed and low little moans were heard behind the rail.

"Uh, maybe you two should get a room," said Trunks nervously. 

Almuerzo's head popped back up. "Great idea," she grinned with a wolfish smile, showing many pearly white teeth. 

"No it's not!" shouted the Namek sei-jin, falling all the way over the railing and out of Almuerzo's clutches. He crawled away on hands and knees several paces before scrambling up to his feet and breaking into a run.

"Oh, I love it when they play hard to get," purred Almuerzo. "Base-kun!" she called running after him. 

Sweat drops ran down the side of Trunks' and Pan's heads. 

"Don't you just feel the love tonight?" Bra grinned, turning on her heels and strolling into the house.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Juuhachi groaned and squeezed her eyes shut again when a bright light flashed in them. "What... where am I?" she questioned out loud. Her eyes opened and refocused to see a concerned face looking down at her. The figure had gray hair, and a few wrinkles around the corners of his eyes and mouth, no nose, and six little dots centered on his forehead. "Krillin?"

"Juuhachi," smiled the ex-monk taking her hand. "Thank kami, you had me worried."

"What happened?" she asked, sitting up. The human tried to push her back down, but she easily batted his hand away.

"We rescued you, you passed out while fighting, but now you're save back on earth."

"Earth," said Juuhachi slowly. She raised up her hand and twitched her fingers before her face, then ran her other hand up and over to her shoulder where the blast had penetrated. Her organic tissues hurt slightly, but she could tell that the inner mechanisms had been repaired. It would heal clean, though there might be a scar. 

"Don't worry," assured Krillin, watching as she studied her injuries. "Bulma and Juunana fixed it, Bulma says in a few days you shouldn't feel a thing."

"Earth," repeated Juuhachi again. "You know I've never considered myself an earthling...."

"Juuhachi...?" Krillin asked with a confused face.

"Once I won't have cared if this planet had been blown to bits," she said, her fingers tightening over her wound, which her hand was clamped over. "I am an android, a man-made woman, a weapon," she spoke softly. "I was created to kill, to destroy, when did that change...? When did I change?"

"Juuhachi, are you okay?" asked Krillin, sitting down on the bed side next to your. "You're saying some pretty strange things. I don't think you're a weapon."

She turned and looked at him. "And what do you thing I am? What do you see when you look at me Krillin, do you see an earthling or android?"

He reached out a hand and cupped her check, smiling softly at her. "I see you, Juuhachi, only you. You're above such labels. You're beautiful, strong, and kind-you are my wife, that is all the label I will put on you."

Juuhachi closed her eyes and leaned slightly into his touch. "I am not a human, but when I floated there looking at the earth... so beautiful, not because of its blue waters or green land, beautiful because that was where you were, Marron, all that I hold dear, all that makes me more then a weapon."

"Juuhachi," called Krillin, sliding more onto the bed and wrapping his arms around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder and embraced him back. 

"This is my home and I've decided I will defend it."

* * * * * * * * * * *

Vegeta stood perched on the white wood balcony branched off from his and Bulma's room. All he wore was a large long-sleeve button-up shirt, the last few buttons down the front were only done up for a show of modesty, the rest hung wide open. One foot was drawn up on the rail he sat on the other dangled down as he stared off at the night sky. A cup of forgotten wine hung in one hand the other hand idly caressed the bloom of a white climbing rose that Bulma's mother had planted on that side of the building. He didn't drink often. If he got too into it he didn't stop till he was drunk, thought it took quite a bit to push him over his limit. He wasn't drunk now, though he slightly wished he were. It was easy to forget when you were drunk, forget troubles, bad memories....

"I'm not a hound..." he muttered softly, eyes fixed on the moon, it wasn't full: he won't transform. He just liked to look at it now that there was a moon to gaze at.

He didn't turn his head, kept his eyes glued on the silver disc in the sky, as he heard his mate enter the room.

"Ah, what a day," Bulma sighed, dropping a load of papers on a table against the wall and toeing off her slippers. "According to Juunana, the ship they wrecked was left completely intact, just the engines and computers were trashed, maybe I can use that to-" She stopped as she lifted her head to see the Saiya-jin perched on the rail with a distant look on his face. "Vegeta?" she called walking over to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that, one look at you is enough to say you've got something on your mind."

'...'

"Is it about that woman's offer? What you told Krillin?" she asked softly. "You can tell me, Vegeta."

"There are things that I hope you never find out about me, Bulma," he said, voice no more then a soft purr.

"I know you're not a saint, Vegeta. I know you've killed and done all kinds of bad things-"

"That's not what I'm taking about!" snapped Vegeta, cutting her off. "I don't care if you know that stuff, you already have an idea of what I've done in the past. But... there are things about me I am not proud of."

"If they're not bad things you've done, then what? What could you of all people possible be ashamed of?" asked Bulma. 

"Nothing... it's not important any more," said Vegeta.

"Oh no you don't!" said Bulma, widening her stance and crossing her arms, getting into her stubborn pose. "I'm not letting you drop it just like that, I'm not leaving this spot till you-!"

Her words were cut short as he leaned up, took hold of her chin, and kissed her. She closed her eyes and moaned low in her throat as he skillfully teased the inside of her mouth. Blinking open her eyes, she pushed him back. 

"Oh, no! If you think that's going to stop me, think again, buster!"

Vegeta set down his cup and smirked at her. He turned around, facing the blue-haired human and grabbed her, pulling her in between his legs to begin nipping and kissing down her neck. His hands slid down her sides and behind to cup and squeeze her rear.

"I said that won't work," growled Bulma, fisting her fingers into his thick hair and pulling on it. Vegeta was unfazed by her attempt to take his nipping jaws away from her throat. Instead he began to purr very softly in his throat, his tail sliding up her bare legs and under her skirt.

"I-I told you... that won't work," she said, slightly breathless, pulling on his hair harder. Her legs trembled and she unconsciously leaned into him. 

His head dipped lower down to her collarbone in light kisses, his thighs hugged her sides firmly.

"I... want to know... Vegeta," she managed, a light pant came from her and a dark blush covered her cheeks. 

He gave a small growl, picked her up, and stood to walk back into the room. He dropped her on the bed and climbed up on top of her.

"Vegeta."

"Shhh," he breathed in her ear. "No more talking tonight," it was almost a request, but still a demand.

Any thought Bulma had of protesting left her head as his hands returned to her body.


	10. Chapter 9: Shattered Dreams The Call to ...

****

War of Worlds

Chapter9: Shattered Dreams, The Call to Arms 

It'd been a long month, a long confusing month. Vegeta stuck his head through the doorway to Bulma lab and looked around. Chaos, that was the only word he could think of to describe what he saw. Techs and mechanics ran about like an ant farm, doing various things, while Bulma, the queen ant, barked out orders pointing and waving her arms to emphasize herself. He had no idea what was going on, but the whole Capsule corps compound had been like this for the past month.

It'd been two months since the last Lucifer incidence, the satellite hook up Bulma had designed was now operational and orbiting the planet. He couldn't see why she was still creating and designing all those insane contraptions of hers when she'd all but made the earth inaccessible to aliens; at least 99.999 percent of them. A few out there were strong enough to break through, but he and the others would no doubt sense them long before they seceded.

Vegeta dodged to the side as a group of techs moved by talking excitable about something he didn't understand. He was getting pretty annoyed at all the hustle and bustle lately. At least the work crew was no longer staring at him in an awed daze like he was some kind of living god. Well, they only gave quick wondering and admiring glances now- they'd quickly learning he wasn't the social type. Good Dende what had ever possessed him to desire such fame and power in his youth, he'd give anything if the morons would forget they'd ever seen him. Life was so… difficult now. Not that he was the only one that was having problems. Trunks had all but walled himself up in his office he was hounded constantly. Rumors were flying around, things ranging from suspicions whether Trunks was a 'golden warrior' to what his favorite cereal was and who he was currently dating (everyone from britney Spears to Elizabeth Taler). It was all so crazy. Even Bra had had to retreat from the flock of fans that she normally encouraged. The photos taken of her in super saiyan mode standing by him and fighting the alien admiral had shocked the world almost as much as when he'd fought in public against Lucifer soldiers. She'd enjoyed it in the beginning agreeing to do a few more photos in that form, the most popular being her in high heels and leather holding a motorcycle up on her shoulder with a male biker model sitting on the seat. But, the fame had gotten to the point that she'd acquired dozens of stokers that were down right freaky. Even his perky daughter could only handle so much. And then there was Bulma…

Vegeta sighed out loud.

He didn't have a clue about Bulma. He'd hardly seen her the last month besides when she was ordering her ant farm around, and the month before she'd been cooped up in her lab like a mad woman doing Kami knows what. He knew she was dabbing again in the new alien technology, she and several other employees of hers had made several more trips up into space to collect more of it. Surprisingly Juunanagou and Juuhachigou had been among those to accompany her; if anything the two seemed more determined to do their fair share of 'ass kicking'. She's starting to… freak me out thought Vegeta glancing back as his wife as she proclaimed herself a genius loudly enough for most around her to hear and tossed back her head to laugh in a maniacally way.

"I feel like she's planning my demise or something," muttered Vegeta to himself, unable to stop a shiver from running down his spine. Whatever Bulma was currently cooking it was expensive and big, very, very, very big. He'd managed to take a peek at a few files and papers he'd seen laying around before some worker or Bulma scooped them up. Whatever she was doing she'd had to get legal permission from the empire of Japan as well as support and agreement of various kinds from other nations like the U.S, China, and a few European countries. She'd ordered tons of raw materials and hired experts in various fields all over the glob some he hadn't the foggest idea why she'd want. 

"If I didn't know any better I'd thing she planned to take over the world," he said with a blank look on his face, watching as several workers dragged a giant ass cannon passed him.

Aren't thing suppose to go back to normal by now? He thought in a desperate mental voice. Usually you fight, win, and things some how calm back down like nothing happened. Okay, next time someone tries to attack Earth, I say I'm super man or something and start wear glass to throw any annoying human off who might recognize me. It might work, humans did seem to be that dense at times. Of course, that was assuming he could get the whole stupid lot of them to forget he existed in the first place. Tricking them was one thing, getting them to forget was a whole other. 

He felt like moping about the place, but saiyan princes' don't mope! They look regal and composed, always in control of the situation… Bullshit, he didn't have control over anything at the moment and it frustrated him to no end. 

He felt someone tapping on his shoulder and had to fight hard not to sigh. "Leave me alone," if it was another stupid person asking for his signature, autograph, of all things, he was going to have a mental break down. Not to mention that humans seemed unable to except the fact that he was just Vegeta, no first name, no last name, no middle, just 'Vegeta'! The tapping continued and he felt the alluring called to kill something, go on a massive blood bath that would make the bravest soul scurry way from him in fear. A crazy look flashed in his eyes as he turned to start with his first victim only to pause, eyes widening, hand raised to strike. Before him stood one perky blue haired demi-saiyan who smiled sweetly at him completely ignoring the killing stance he was in.

"Papa, there you are I've been looking all over for you," said Bra taking his raised hand and pulling him away. He numbly went with her, at least she was dragging him away from this madness all around them. He only half listened to his daughter as she had a one sided conversation with him, talking about colors, inseams and logos, things that once again left question marks flashing about his head. Yee God she's becoming as loony has her mom thought Vegeta with more then a small amount of concern. Soon the whole planet would be full of crazy mad people, whose only purpose in life was to make him miserable.

He didn't protests as Bra, wielding a measuring tape, processed to record and measure every square inch of him, still chatting, more so to herself, about clothes and how to make them fit perfectly on someone. How they had be to cut just right to make someone do a double take and think 'damn she/he is fine'.

Someone had to be going crazy, him, Bulma, Bra, everyone, something was defiantly not right decided Vegeta as she finished and thanked him before going off on her merry way, wide grin on her lips.

"Someone tell me what's going on!!" screamed the saiyan at his rope's end. Several people who'd been milling about where he currently was stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Unfortunately none stepped foreword to enlighten him.

"Gravity room…." muttered Vegeta to himself. "Training… I should be training… I'm not really walking about seeing all this weird stuff… I'm… dreaming… or drunk… whatever I'm doing it's not walking past a bunch of techs and machines designed to do who knows what. Watching my mate planning world conquest… maybe I've some how given myself brain damage…. That's it… I hit my head and become as stupid as Kakarot. Everything makes perfect sense now," said Veget to himself as he walked past everyone heading towards the gravity room, telling himself it was all his imagination. Let's just say Vegeta's 'very' confused right now.

***********

A month later. 

Pan was walking down the streets of Satan City, it was a relatively boring day today. It'd been boring lately. Trunks was once again super glued to his desk or too afraid to venture far away from it for fear he'd be maimed. Really he was a super saiyan, he could defend himself if he had too! Okay so Trunks was too modest and polite to threat even a mob of screaming fans- they were she supposed for the most part harmless- but for Kami sake he didn't have to let them box him in like a fish in a bowl! Well she'd grown use to Trunks always being too busy, but strangely he wasn't the only one unavailable at the moment. Bra had been cooped up at home and had been doing something important that was taking up all her time. The blue haired demi-saiyan had been so busy that she couldn't even spar a few minutes to chat on the phone. The whole Briefs family seemed to be busy lately she couldn't even get near the Capsule Corps building without showing some ID, the place had become a fortress. 

Other strange things had been happening too, for some unknown reason Krillin had closed his dojo! She couldn't believe it! Why would he do that?! Marron wasn't even sure what had happened, her parents seemed to mysteriously disappear for most of the day and sometimes the night too. Marron was starting to thing they'd been adducted by pod people or something. She hadn't been able to drag what they were doing out of them, but apparently they weren't suffering financially for it, it any thing Marron claimed they were somehow richer- her father had bought her a brand new car!

Pan kicked at the side walk wishing her dad would buy her a new car, it'd be nice not to have to catch a ride with someone else or have to fly everywhere by her own power all the time. Of course, she knew cars didn't grow on trees, but still it wasn't fair! "Bra's got her own car, Marron, Trunks, Goten, I'll bet even Base has one stashed away somewhere," she muttered. She pictured the tall namek cruising around in a shiny new sports car, shades over his eyes, and wind whipping his green antennas around. 

Pan sweat dropped. "Nahhh!" she said out loud waving her hand in front of her to dismiss the thought. Nameks didn't seem to value material possession for some reason.

She hadn't seen the others much lately, not that she saw Uub or Base much, but she hadn't heard from Almuerzo or Goten either. All so odd.

Pan frowned she'd had nothing to do besides schoolwork. BORING! Senior at Orange Star College with nothing to do but eat, sleep, go to school, come home, and do her homework. Her shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh. "Some times I wonder if I'm even learning anything new," muttered Pan under her breath. She got straight As' with Gohan, a college professor, for a dad she had too. Her dad was so smart that the knowledge was partially oozing off him, she had to pick some of it up living with him and all. She was surprised about how much she knew, her classes all seemed too easy because of what she'd picked up from him and the home studies he and her mother had put her through. She could fall asleep during class and not have to worry if she wanted, she knew it all already. It seemed like such a waste of time really. 

"Waist of money too," said Pan putting her nose up in the air. "I'll bet dad could easily buy me a shiny new car too with all the money he's spent for classes I don't really need." Of course, she needed a degree to prove she was smart and hopefully get a good job in the future. Of course, even with the degree that wasn't a guarantee that she won't end up flipping burgers for all she knew. She made a face at the mental picture that conjured up in her head with that thought. 

"Sometimes I just wish I was young again and going out with Trunks and grandpa to find the dragon balls," said Pan fondly. The real world put on hold, she was free to venture the universe see all the amazing things out there, get into trouble, fight and save the day, be a hero and not have to come home and do her homework. She missed those times.

Head still swimming with thoughts of adventure and danger, Pan turned the corner. She walked five steps and paused in the middle of the sixth. Walking backwards two steps she turned towards the wall and looked at the poster she'd passed, her eyes widening as she did.

Before her was a picture of Bra in a slender, figure fixing red uniform, trimmed in black with a wide black belt wrapping her waist and lots of silver buckles and buttons. The suit consisting of a long tailed coat, a dark tight undershirt with a zipper up the front, a knee length skirt, and ankle high boots. Bra had on a military looking hat on, which her slender fingertips were touching in a kind of solute. She smiled brightly, blue eyes dancing with a kind of excitement. Above her in bold print were the words "We Want You!" Underneath was written "Join the Capsule Corps Army and help protected our beloved earth. Sign-ups will be held at the Capsule corps compounds…." It gave the address, dates, and required information and requirement for applicants. Pan stared at the poster looking like her eyeballs were going to roll out of their sockets.

"What?!" she shouted ripping the poster off the wall to look more closely at it. Glancing down the street she saw more posters plastered about and many young people standing in front of them looking and reading. A low buzz had filled the air, people whispered to one another words like 'Protect' 'Earth' 'Fight Back' 'Join' were heard among the chatter. 

Pan just couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing, it was crazy, it was impossible, it was trilling and amazing all at once. With the poster in hand the quarter saiyan ran down the street towards Capsule Corps. People were already crowding around the compound, even though sign-ups weren't for another couple of days, some chatting 'Capsule Corps' 'fight' shouting that they'd follow Vegeta and drive away the alien forces. Pan gapped at the scene, everyone wore determined faces, everyone had a righteous air about them. Something 'big' had just been set into motion.

Pan finally noticed the police and security guards that were trying to get the crowd to go home, yelling for them to come back later, that till the building opened for sign-ups it was private property. It was obvious to Pan that she wasn't going to be able to get in through the front door so she levitated up and flew over crowd and fence not even caring about the awed sounds the people made seeing her. Nor did she pay them any mind as they explode with cheer and greater eagerness to join with her display. Pan flew around the circular structure, barely noticing the new buildings and equipment now surrounding it. She didn't stop till she came to one large glass window, Pan drew back her hand and tapped rapidly on it.

The blinds went up and a lavender haired man looked out at her. Blinking his eyes as if shocked he pushed open the window and let her in.

"Pan, what are you doing here?" asked Trunks as she landed lightly.

"What is 'this'," she said shoving the poster in his face.

Trunks leaned back, bumping into his desk. He blinked at the picture inches from his eyes then pushed her hand down and looked at her. "Aid campaign."

"I can see that! When did this happen?!" shouted Pan. "My God, Trunks! You're building an army!"

Trunks sighed and sat down on his desk. "Not me, my mom. This is her project."

"H-how?" asked Pan.

"Well what did you expect Pan," said Trunks folding his hands in his lap. "We're up against an army, we're going to need one to fight back. Not even the Z fighters can charge head first into this battle without support."

"But- what- we'll- how are you planning to do this?" asked Pan.

"My mother has already gotten legal permission, a good many of the earth's military forces suffered greatly with the first world wide attack; they still haven't fully recovered from it. We've also been studying the alien's technology, you'd be amazed at the kind of things we've salvaged and come up with from it. Even a mere human can be trained and equipped to hold off invading forces. They're not stupid Pan, they'll be back and this time it might not be just small attacks, if they have one powerful warrior among them a whole army could get through the barrier, we might be up against hundreds, thousands, millions, we don't know. Hell, what if they send two ships, three, a whole palatino? Pan this is war, we're in serious trouble here if we don't get our act together."

Pan inhaled a deep breath. "So we don't have a choice?"

Trunks gave her a supportive smile. "There's always a choice, Pan-chan. And no one is going to make any of us fight if we don't want to. In fact, I have to register myself if I want to fight. My mom's being very thrall about all this."

"You don't have to fight," said Pan, it was a bit of a relief to hear that. Hell none of them had to fight, they could leave it up to Bulma and her newly trained troops. Of course, they or at least a few of them would probably be needed to take care of any powerful enemies, but it was still a relief being given a choice. "Are you going to fight?"

Trunks sighed again. "Considering who my parents are I think it's expected of me. Hell even Bra's going to fight, my whole family is neck deep in all this, I have to Pan."

Pan bit her lower lip. Trunks was going to join, he'd be in the middle of all the action, he could be hurt, he could be killed…. She shivered at the very thought. "So… you'd just put on a uniform and wait around to see when they show?"

"Not… exactly," said Trunks looking a little uncomfortable.

"What?" asked Pan.

"You know that ship 17 and 18 hit?"

"Yah."

"My mom fixed it."

"She fixed it!" said Pan in shock.

Trunks nodded his head. "Mom practically had to rebuild and design the whole engine and control system but it's running. We'll be training troops on the earth to begin with, but at least some of them will be moved up to the ship after a time. Plus we've got plans to set up a base on the moon in the future. You might… not see me for a while."

Oh no, now this wasn't good. She might be able to get use to the idea of Trunks always being on the frontline. Maybe come to terms with the fact that there was a real possibility that he'd be hurt or worst, but she would 'not' except him being off world while she was stuck on earth with no way of getting to him. "I don't see you enough as it is," she muttered more to herself then Trunks.

"I know you don't like it Pan, but it really is necessary. I won't be off world all the time, maybe I'll be stationed here for all we know-"

Trunks cut off as Pan lifted a hand and held it before his face. She had a very thoughtful look on her face. She glanced down at the poster still held in her other hand.

Trunks' eyes widened. "Pan! You don't have to! Really, you don't have to join, you're still young, you're not even out of college yet I mean -"

She cut him off again. "Do you really think I'm the type that will sit back and let other people get killed while I sit safe and sound writing papers and reading books? I'm part saiyan, Trunks, I'm strong, I can really make a difference."

Trunks scooted towards her a bit and took her hands. "You are young Pan, its your choice, but maybe you should thing about what you'd be giving up if you do, do this?" he asked softly.

Pan closed her eyes, Trunks was right, this would interfere with all her future plans, it might destroy them all together. Don't finish school no degree, no degree no fancy job, no fancy job no big house… the list went on and on. Gee she'd particularly had her entire life planned out already. She paused a moment to think about it and found it all seemed so stereotypical and well… boring. Trunks was also a big part of that future plan, hell the big house and other luxuries were pretty much a package deal with him, but… if he left, went into space, was killed… her future looked bleak indeed.

"It is my choice, Trunks," she said softly opening her eyes and looking at him. The concern showing in his blue depths made her pause, feel uncomfortable. He wants what's best for me, he wants to keep me safe she thought. This is an important decision but… I want to keep him safe too…. "I will… think about it," promised Pan.

Trunks smiled and nodded his head. "That's all I ask," he said leaning up to give her a light peck on the cheek. "Think about it Pan, think about it hard and whatever you decide I'll support you in."

Pan made a small 'hn' sound and reached up to pet his long hair. "I should have been the one saying that when the thought of joining first popped into your silly head," she said thumping him lightly on the noggin. "I'll bet you don't think at all, you never even considered me did you? Hn, men you're all the same you see some action and the first thing to come to mind is 'me man, me kill'."

"But-" started to protest Trunks, he stopped and winced as Pan's gentle petting turned into her fisting her fingers in his hair and pulling not at all gentle.

"I swear you're all still cavemen at heart," continued Pan. "I'm surprised you don't go around with clubs in furs puffing out your chests trying to be macho. If it weren't for us women I bet you all would be too, no one to cook or sew or make you act civilized."

"You can't cook!" protested Trunks, he regretted that greatly as it earned him another hard pull.

Pan continued as if she hadn't heard him. "You'd all run around like the thoughtless brutes you are, not caring at all what your women really think or want, thinking we'd just quietly go with whatever you decided…."

Trunks winced again as Pan pulled his head up to look her in the eyes. He blinked his eyes in confusion as he was now nose to nose with her.

"Well guess what Trunks… I'm woman, hear me roar," she purred in a sexy tone before pressing her lips to his in a sensual kiss that sent chills and thrills all up and down his spine. He was slightly dazed when she released him and leaned back. "And don't you forget it," smiled Pan tucking the poster under her arm and strolling out of the room. Trunks watched her go with wide eyes.

***********

Gohan sorted the stack of papers he held and looked out at his class; it was a lot smaller today then it was usually. Not only were several people absent, but everyone seemed to be talking, something he didn't allow in his class. It was early and school hadn't really started yet, but it was still strange for so many of them to be up and out of their seats visiting.

The bell rang and a few students hurried back over to their places as he started calling out roll. Once that was done with he glanced down at today's schedule: currents events. 

"Well now, let's start with some current event subjects, does anyone have one they'd like to share?" To Gohan's surprise almost every hand shot up into the air, some waved excitedly. Overcoming his shock Gohan calmly picked one male student sitting near the back that normally didn't like to participate. 

"I want to talk about the CC army," stated the student. Some student groaned, no doubt that had been their topic too and now they'd have to think up a new one. 

"CC army?" repeated Gohan raising an eyebrow.

"You don't know Mr. Son?" asked one girl in front excitedly.

"Yah, it's the Capsule Corps Army, it was just announced on the TV and radio this morning, they're recruiting soon."

The students broke out in an excited rumble everyone talking all at once throwing around opinions, rumors, starting new rumors.

"Hold it, hold it!" called out Gohan. The Capsule Corps Army?! This was news to him. "Kimberly would you please explain all this too me," asked Gohan picking one of his brightest and up to date students. The girl adjusted her glasses and began.

"This morning about 7:30 a.m. Capsule Corps daughter billionaire Mrs. Briefs went on air and publicly announced that she was setting up a new army force to combat the resent alien invasion forces that had been threatening earth. Recruiting will begin in four days for any that wish to join. This is the reason for the lack of students attending class today, several have already chosen to join and are spending the next few days getting ready or partying," finished the girl pushing her glasses up her nose.

Gohan looked at her in disbelief while the class once again broke out in chatter. 

"Yah, Vegeta-san will waste those assholes, I'm going to join so I can get a front seat and watch him do it!" shouted one male student.

"Baka! You'll get yourself killed you're not a 'Golden Warrior'," shouted one girl up at him.

"Yah, but with one on our side how can we lose? You saw how easily he trashed those alien scum," shouted another student.

"Hey, isn't Vegeta's daughter, Bra Briefs, one too?" asked one girl.

"Yah, she is," answered her girlfriend. "She kicks serious ass, I didn't think a girl could be that strong."

"Girls kick ass too," shouted one girl and several others in the room agreed with her, voicing their opinion with loud cheers.

"I wonder if her hunk of a brother is a 'Golden Warrior' too?" voiced one girl.

"He's got to be, he'd build like a dream," sighed one girl.

"He's a paper pusher," shouted one boy. "I'll bet I could beat him up!"

"Yah right!" shouted several girls all at once.

"I think he is one," said a boy off to the side. "I went back and watched the Cell Game footage after the first fight, and they show several people there that had golden hair. I'm positive one of them was Vegeta and I could almost swear that one of them looks just like Trunks."

"No way, he'd have to have been a little kid back then," said one student.

"I'm telling you the guy looked just like him," protested the student.

"Hey, what about that boy who was doing well against Cell, the one before Mr. Satan stepped in, he had golden hair too."

Gohan made a small grunt wondering how the conversation had gotten to that of all things. 

"Baka!" shouted one student. "Mr. Satan was a fraud, one of the "Golden Warriors' was the one to actually defeat Cell."

"You think it was that boy?"

A sweat drop ran down the side of Gohan's head.

"Maybe it was, we can't be sure. The news always covers everything up," grumbled on student.

"That's way you've got to join and see the action for yourself," shouted the first student who's picked the topic. 

"This is war not a walk through the woods," shouted back another student. "People died in war."

The talking switched back to the CC army and the upcoming fighting. Gohan breathed a sigh of relief, they stumbled across the truth and just as quickly the subject had switched again. That was the good thing about one thing leading to another you never stopped long enough to really think about it. Not that he was afraid they'd recognize him, the chances of that happening were slim to none. Few of the students in his class were old enough to even have been around when the Cell Game happened and fewer knew what he looked like as a young boy let along as a super saiyan. Still that was too close for his comfort. 

He didn't want people to know that is was in fact him that had defeated Cell. He didn't want to go through the same trouble that Vegeta was currently having. For all he cared Vegeta could take the credit for that as well, he had no intention of getting involved in this new fighting. All this youth he'd fought and what had it gotten him? Nothing, nothing good at least, a dead father, a lonely mother, a little brother who hadn't known his own father till he was seven. Father, thought Gohan, even now he still missed him, missed him and Piccolo-san who'd been like another father to him. Both had been taken away because of senseless fighting, his sensei dead, killed when Earth had blown up from the dark dragon balls (end of the first series of GT), such a waste. His father, who'd always been stuck at the center of all the actions, never home, never with his family always gone- dead or training- he was still alive today, Gohan had to believe that, but he didn't know where he was. What Gohan wouldn't do, wouldn't give, just to have him back, him and Piccolo-san, to live as they had for a few short years, together like a normal family. No evil force there to tear them apart, no threat hanging over their shoulders darkening their day to day lives, just family and friends getting together because they chose to; to laugh and rejoice in the very act of living, in peace.

Peace that was what he wanted, just peace. He didn't want to live in the chaos any more, he didn't want it threatening him and his loved one again. They'd done their fair share, why was it back, why were the shadows of evil and chaos once again looming over him. 

"I don't want to fight any more," he spoke softly out loud.

"Mr. Son?" called one concerned student. Gohan looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

The class quieted all eyes suddenly on him. 

"Hai, I'm fine," smiled Gohan thought the smile never reached his eyes.

"You said you don't want to fight any more," said one student with a puzzled look on his face. "I didn't know you were a fighter, Mr. Son." The class was suddenly very interested in him.

Gohan licked his lower lip nervously. "Yes, I use to be a fighter," he admitted, he winced slightly at the awed light that suddenly shone in his students eyes. Don't look at me like that, it's not as glorious as you think it is thought Gohan sadly. "My father, my brother, even my mother and grandfathers were all great fighters," there was some pride in his voice when he said that, he had to admit that to himself. 

"Really," said one student leaning foreword in his chair.

"I thought so!" shouted another. "Mr. Son you're father is Son Goku isn't he, the one that won the Ultimate Martial Arts tournaments several years back."

The awed looks suddenly grew in intensely.

"Hai, he was my father, Son Goku a great warrior and fighter, but he'd gone now…"

The students blinked confused eyes at him not understanding.

"Gone, Mr. Son?" asked one girl.

"Gone," said Gohan nodding his head, he didn't elaborate and the students took this to mean he was dead. "After the last fight he was just gone," said Gohan unable to keep some of the pain from his voice. "Fighting is not all glory and excitement, in fact I'd say there is very little of that in actual battle. Fear, anger, hatred, pain, guilt these are the feelings that come out on top, not the sense of satisfaction nor a feeling of triumph, many battles have been fought where the winners didn't feel like celebrating once the fighting was over." That's not completely true spoke a part of his mind, when you fight you feel so alive, you're saiyan blood sings, you can't deny that. Gohan pushed down that part of him, he wanted to get through to these young people. He wanted them to understand. "People die, friends, loved ones, fate is not picky about who it will take. When you are cut you bleed, you feel the pain, after the battles are over the pain is still there it won't stop till it is healed. Some men need to justify their existence with pain, men like my father, Vegeta-san, they can't live without it they were raised in the very heart of it. They don't know peace; they don't know what it feels like to truly be content. Battle is conflict, both on an outer and inner field. You are young it appeals to you now because you don't know… you just don't know what it really is."

The classes was deadly silent with Gohan's heart felt speech they all looked at him with wide eyes, some of the girls look a bit teary eyed as if they felt his pain. The young men tried not to look him in the eyes, seeming uncomfortable with the emotions hanging in the air. The conflict still hung around them all, they were young and they did not know… they could not know till they tasted it themselves, till they bled and felt the pain through their own senses.

"Mr. Son," spoke one girl, almost in a whisper. "Someone has to fight…." she said softly. "We can't just roll over and die, my brother is going to join and I believe in him… I believe he'd doing the right thing… I believe," she whispered softly.

Gohan looked a long time at her and his eyes softened. "Yes, we can't just roll over and die, but I wish…." He closed his eyes. "I wish we could settle this without fighting." He reopened his eyes and smiled at his class. "Words are stronger then fists and less costly, remember that. Violence should always be a last resort, that is something my father taught me and it made him an even greater man then his fists ever could, you remember that well." You loved to fight father, but you loved life too, you always tried to save those you fought against, Yamacha, Krillin, Tein, Choazu, Piccolo, Vegeta, all once your enemies then your friends and ails. That I think is what I admire the most about your father, it is something I will always admire. 

"Hai sensei," chorused the class.

Gohan gave them another proud smile. "Now then let's discuss the political and global importance this is going to have on the economy," said Gohan causing a collective groan to run through the room. Gohan turned back to them with a grin, "you can't run an army on willpower alone, it's expensive." He then went on to list several stock areas that would no doubt increase because of the new need for materials and the effects this would hold on Capsule Corps' other actions and products. The class was soon engrossed in the not so glorious backbone of war, Gohan was pleased that some students were taking an interest in the area, they would be the one who pieces the world back together after fighting had put cracks in it. Defending the planet was noble, but someone still had to run it.

***********

Pan pushed in the front door to her home and announced her arrival. She saw her mother, who'd just gotten home shoving a frozen lasagna into the oven. The raven-haired woman smiled and turned to greet her, wiping her hands on a towel.

"Welcome home honey. How was your day?"

"Fine mom, I went and saw Trunks-kun today," replied Pan, she shifted the folded poster under her arm. She'd been thinking about what Trunks had said the whole way back home and now that she was staring one of her parents in the face, the carefully planned words and actions she'd been planning to use vanished from her head.

"Oh you're not trying to drag him away from his job again are you?" asked Videl turning around to set the timer.

"Mom," protested Pan, they'd had this conversation one too many times for her liking.

"Well you know he's a very busy man, he runs an important company, well he did before Bulma took over again, but he's still Vice president. You can't expect a man like that to take you out on the town and to movies."

"Mom, Trunks is 'my' guy," growled Pan, not in the mood to talk about this again. "Yes, he's over ten years older than me, yes he's got lots of responsibilities that take up his time, but he's 'my' guy. Not just that, but there's saiyan stuff mixed in it, I'm not going to dump him just because you think I'm going too fast."

Videl sighed. "I'm not saying for you to dump him Pan, you should just broaden your horizons, he's the first serious boyfriend you've ever had, how do you know he's really the one. You haven't shopped around at all."

"He's the one," stated Pan in a flat voice leaving no room for argument.

"You're only nineteen Pan."

"You were younger when you met dad and started dating."

"I don't call running around as super heroes dating," stated Videl. "We were friends first then it branched and turned into much more when we were older and more mature."

"I am mature," growled Pan crossing her arms over her chest. Videl gave her a look that made Pan squirm suddenly very aware of the pouty stance she was in, but she didn't back down, she wanted to make her point.

"Look Pan I'm just saying you have plenty of time to figure things out, you don't need to set everything in stone yet. I like Trunks and I do hope he is the one, but the future is so uncertain, especially at your age. You might get a job that will take up all your time like Trunks and then where will you be? You don't see each other much as it is, working around two busy schedules is tough on a relationship. Just don't set your heart on him too much Pan, he's a fine catch if you can keep him, but you've got your whole life ahead of you."

Kami did her mother have some kind of secret agency following her around, sneaking into her head to find just the right kind of worries to make her confidence on her decisions waver. What she had with Trunks was perhaps the best thing she had going in her life at the moment how dare she try and shake her devotion at a time like this, a time when she really wanted and needed her parents support. Okay so seeing Trunks was a problem at times, but that could be solved. Her hold on the poster tightened crumpling the edge of the glossy paper. If I fight for earth… I fight with Trunks, we fight together, we'll be together. You don't see it is just like you and dad, we may not be the new Great Saiyamen, but it's the same mom. I care about him as a friend, company, lover. It means a lot to me, it means everything to me.

Of course, Pan just couldn't explain to her mother these feels, she couldn't say them to her as clearly as she could herself so it always came out sounding wrong. The true motivation and meaning behind her words not making the same clarity to her parental units. Of course, it didn't help that she was feeling pushed already and that her father chose that moment to return home.

"I'm home," called Gohan reaching up to loosen his tie. He glanced at the two sensing the tension in the air. "What's going on?" 

"What going on is that I've decided I'm going to fight, I'm joining the CC army," said Pan slapping the poster down on the table for them to see.

Videl and Gohan's eyes snapped wide. Videl was totally blown away unable to see the connection between Pan's feelings for Trunks and a decision to join an arms force.

"No you're not!" shouted Videl. "What's gotten into you?! What brought this on all of a sudden?! Is this a form or rebellion or something?" asked the totally confused woman. Her little girl couldn't want to drop everything and fight could see? She had so many plans and goals, such a great future set up for her. 

"Pan what's the meaning of this?" asked Gohan glancing at the poster. 

"I've thought it over dad. I'm going to join, Trunks and everyone need me, I can really help a lot of people doing this."

Videl suddenly saw the connection between their first conversation and this new one, but instead of putting it gently and thinking it out she was just as blunt as her daughter. "You're doing this just to be with Trunks aren't you! That's it, that's why you're tossing everything aside."

"No, that's not it, well it's part of it, but that's not the whole reason I want to join," protested Pan.

"Pan, you can't just give up everything for him! He's asking too much of you."

"He didn't ask me to give up anything, this is my decision!" shouted back Pan.

"Pan-!" Videl stopped as Gohan put a hand on her shoulder. Her father had a serious look on his face that was far more unnerving then her mother's frustrated and overly concerned one. 

"Pan, what about school? You're not planning to drop out are you?"

Pan felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes, this hurt, the almost disappointed look in her father's eyes. He cared about her education it meant more to him then her. He had to know that she knew all that stuff already, he had to understand that it was a waste of her time, waste of her powers and skill to continue just for the degree, a simple piece of paper. She could do so much!

"Papa I-"

The look in her father's eyes stopped her dead, the breaking of a cherished thought a wonderful dream; she watched it all fall to pieces in his eyes. Those sad, understanding, yet so sad eyes.

"Gomenasai I…"

"You do what you feel you must Pan," spoke her father softly. "You're mother and I can't keep telling you what to do, as much as I hate to say it you're not my little girl any more, you're a intelligent grown woman."

The tears spilled, flowing down her cheeks. But, I want you to tell me to go dad, I want your approval, please don't look at me like that… oh Kami please don't she through with an inner wail. "Dad…"

"You don't need to explain Pan," he gave her a small smile, not a pleased smile, a sad kind of smile. He reached up a hand and brushed the tears from one of her cheeks, "you were always so much like your grandpa you… you don't need to explain."

He understood, but he didn't like it realized Pan. The knowledge only dulled the painful ache in her heart, but it was her decision and she was going to go through with it. I'll make you proud of me father, I swear I will she silently promised reaching up on tiptoes to give her dad a kiss on the cheek before hurrying out of the room to hide the new tears threatening to flow.

"Gohan," started Videl concern for both father and daughter now showing in her blue eyes.

"Let her go Videl. We can't tell her what to do any more…"

"Will you be okay?" she asked softly leaning against his arm in a supportive gesture. 

"There's so much I wanted to spare her Videl, the pain, the violence, the meaninglessness of it all. I wanted to teach her it all so she'd never have to feel it herself, but that was wrong. She's young… she needs to make her own mistakes to learn from them, she can't learn them through me, but I just wish… I just wish I could continue to protect her Videl. Why can't I protect her any more?"

"You've already answered your own question Gohan, she's old enough, you taught her well."

Gohan lifted his head and looked in the direction his daughter had gone. "I hope so, Videl, I hope so."

***********

"WOMAN!!!" rang a loud roar throughout the whole of Capsule Corps. Several techs and works turned their heads and watched as a pissed saiyan stormed by, some kind of package tucked under his arm. For once they didn't look at him with awe, but with the fear and terror Vegeta preferred to their wonder. You just didn't get close to a man, no matter who he was, when he looked ready to kill at the drop of a hat.

The techs that had been talking to Bulma, before the roar filled the air, pale and stepped back from the blue haired woman as her husband stalked right up to her, tail cutting the air violently behind him.

"Vegeta," said Bulma calmly still looking down at the chart she held, she hadn't even glanced up with the thundering roar. "Something I can do for you?" she asked finally looking up at him.

"What is the meaning of 'this'!" he growled ripping the package open and letting its contents tumble to the ground. A handsome black folded uniform wrapped in clear plastic landed on the floor.

"What?" she asked raising an eyebrow? "You don't like it? You haven't even tried it on yet don't be so picky. Bra designed them, she said they won't hinder your movements while fighting-"

"That's not why I'm here woman!" snapped the saiyan cutting her off. "What is 'this'!!" he all but screamed at her.

Bulma's brows turned down and she frowned crossing her arms under her breasts. "It's your uniform of course," stated Bulma in a tight voice.

Vegeta growled and moved closer yet to his mate, getting right up in her face till they were nose to nose, his foot, intentionally or not it was hard to say, stepped right on the black suit. "I don't wear uniforms any more woman," he hissed in a deadly tone.

"Well that's too bad, you'll have too if you're going to run this army with me," hissed back Bulma.

"I never agreed to do any such thing with you," replied Vegeta, his voice had dropped the deadly tone, to go unnervingly soft and serious.

Bulma pulled back and blinked her blue eyes at him. "What."

"I am my own fighter woman, I follow no ones orders, not even yours," stated the saiyan still in that soft serious voice.

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Vegeta, I'm not asking you to fetch or anything. You like fighting, I don't see why you can't-"

"No," said Vegeta cutting her off.

"What?!"

"I said no," his tone was so blankly serious Bulma didn't know what to think of it.

"What do you mean no?! Are you saying you won't fight?!" asked Bulma in disbelief. 

"I didn't say anything about not fighting, woman. But, when I fight, I fight for only myself. If you're little army should happen to fight the enemy at the same time I am, so be it, but I will not be a part of this."

"Vegeta, people are expecting you to be a part of this. People think they'll be following you not me! You're a symbol whether you like it or not and I need that!"

"You need a nice little thrall bred dog to prance for you," sneered Vegeta, voice dripping with distain. "I'm not a mascot, woman."

"I'm not asking you to be! You're a warrior prince if your race hadn't been destroyed you'd be doing the same job I'm asking you to perform right now! Why are you being so stubborn, I thought you'd enjoy it!" She glanced up at him and held her breath as the look on his face.

Hard eyes no longer so hard, almost sad but not quite, just a look of loses dulled with time, a destroyed dream that had crumpled before his eyes many of years ago. "You're right Bulma."

She winced, Vegeta hardly ever used her name and whenever he did she had the feeling they were two complete strangers that knew nothing about each other. Strange to become so comfortable being addressed as 'woman'.

"I was bred and raised, tutored endlessly on the workings of war, I would have been the commander of a race that is an army. It's in my blood, was my very reason to exist till my race was butchered," he spoke as if he were speaking of someone else. "You know nothing about war, woman," the affection in that word was back along with the harsh tone that most mistook for other colder emotions. 

"Then teach me, I need you in this," she said softly reaching up a hand to brush her fingers over his cheek. 

Vegeta closed his eyes. Bulma knew him well enough to tell that there was more to this then merely wearing a uniform. It had some kind of meaning to Vegeta, something she didn't understand, represented something he didn't want to expect. So many mysteries, it had been one of the factors that had first drawn her to this man. Still so many mysteries, even after all this time she still knew so little about him, his motives, his past all a mystery. If only she knew, if only he'd tell her things about himself she was sure she'd understand why he wouldn't don a simple black suit.

"I will help you…." he said softly opening his eyes to look into hers. "But, I won't wear it," he stated stepping back from her and turning around to walk away, leaving no room for farther discussion.

Bulma knelt down and picked up the wrapped uniform, she gently brushed off the boot print left on the clear plastic. Her eyes stared after his retreating form. 

"A strange man," commented one of her assists, one in the group she'd been talking to before Vegeta's arrival. 

"I don't understand," said another, this one was a young woman who looked in her early thirties. "I think he would have looked so handsome in a uniform." Her eyes glanced up as she, no doubt, was picturing the dark alien prince in the form shaping black suit.

Bulma's eyes glanced up to as she too pictured it herself. Broad shouldered and a deep chest made square by the suit's cut, slim waist wrapped in a thick leather belt, the neat cut edges of the coat falling over powerful hips, curving over a fine muscled rear, thick thighs and muscular calves clad in black slacks, the whole suit trimmed in white made all that much more brighter by the solid black of the fabric, a sexy little smirk curving the corner of his mouth… Damn! Why was she such a sucker for a man in a uniform! She silently mourned the lose of not getting to see him in it and stood up fingers still idly stocking the plastic covered suit. She frowned and a determined light entered her eyes. I'm going to figure out all those little secrets you won't tell, Vegeta. I'm going to figure you out and then figure out how to stuff you into this thing she vowed to herself. 

Her mind began to whirl as she began plotting ways to do just that. "Hmm…" shock therapy? I dump enough sleeping pills into his next meal to knock out an elephant, sew a bunch of wires into the thing, get him in it, then make it so they zap him every time he try to take it off. "Hehehehe…" There's some flaws in that idea, mainly that he can't wear it every second of every day, he'd still have to pee and stuff, plus drugs don't seem to work well on him. "Hmm…"

"Mrs. Briefs?" called one of her workers.

"Huh?" uttered Bulma snapping out her thought and realizing everyone had been staring at her, or the evil little grins and giggle she'd been making. Bulma coughed into her hand. "Back to work, I'm not paying you to stand around."

When they just stood there blinking their eyes at her she turned to them with her own roar. "BACK TO WORK!!!!"

They scattered.

"Ah! Now I know why those two are a couple!" cried one worker running away with her hands over her ears.

"They're the only ones that aren't scared of each other?" asked another worker running with her.

"No, they're both loud!" 


	11. Chapter 10: The CC Army: Let's Get this ...

****

War of Worlds

Chapter 10: The CC Army: Let's Get this Party Started!

Goten couldn't help but whistle. "Wow…" he said looking at the absolutely gigantic line circling around Capsule Corps. "It must be a mile long…." He scratched the back of his head wondering if he'd even get through the front gate at this rate. The shear number of people gather was amazing. He could hear several different languages being spoken, skin color ranged from black to white and everything in between.

"I guess word spreads fast," laughed Goten sheepishly. Not that he blame them, after all he was there for the same reason as they: to join. It hadn't been a really hard choice for him, where the action was, was where he belonged he figured. 

His mother hadn't been too pleased with his choice, but she'd reluctantly given him her blessing. Unlike his older brother, Gohan, their mother didn't discourage him from fighting. Oh she complained about it, emphasizing a good education, but she always gave in and allowed him to fight. He didn't understand it himself; he'd heard enough conversations between his mother, father, and older brother to understand that his mother didn't believing fighting solved anything. He'd once asked Gohan about this and his older brother had said it was because of how he looked. That had confused Goten even more, what did his looks have to do with anything? 

His mother had been the one to first train him to fight, when she'd caught him and Trunks 'rough housing' she'd dragged him off by the ear behind the house, took up a fighting stance, and told him to attack her. After their first lesson he'd been sore and tired, but he'd really had fun and told his mother this. Chichi had only smiled and pet his head, saying he was too much like his father. It was many years before he'd put her words and Gohan's together to understand why his mother couldn't deny him the right to fight: his father. He looked and acted too much like his father. If he allowed his hair to go wild he would practically be his clone. The thought had disturbed him, he'd first looked at it as them making him a replacement for the legend of a man; needless to say, he hadn't felt qualified to fill his dad's rather large shoes. But, when his dad had come back, he'd come to understand that wasn't it.

She'd finally come to understand the man she'd married.

Gohan had told him it was a real surprise how well their parents had gotten along when Goku had come back from the dead after a seven year absents. He explained that they use to fight quite a lot with each other, or Chichi yelled at him and Goku just sat there and took it. Sometimes you have to loose what you have to realize what you really had and that was what had happened to his mother. She'd finally excepted that she could never change Goku and excepted to herself that she did like and even love him as he was: an alien warrior and protector of those he cared for. They weren't bad qualities; they were in truth very noble ones. She just couldn't see that till she had nothing but time to reflect on what she'd lost. That was why she let him (Goten) fight, if he truly was anything like Goku she knew that she wouldn't be able to change him as she had failed to change his father. Instead of fighting it she'd decided to just except it. Perhaps it was her way of compensating for the harsh words and things said in the past to his sire, or perhaps it was to bring back a little part of the man she'd lost. She had her Gohan, her scholar, and Goku had him. They were still rather large shoes he was trying to walk in, but now he was ready and willing to grow into them.

Goten sighed in fond memory of his father, hoping that wherever he was he was happy and content. While you're gone father I'll look after everyone, I won't let you down he silently promised as he turned back to look at the long line that hadn't seemed to have moved an inch while his thoughts had wondered. He signed again, this time without any fondness, "That is 'if' I ever get anywhere in this line." He couldn't look after anyone if he couldn't find, let alone see, them in all this chaos.

"Goten-kun!" called out a cheerful voice.

Goten's head snapped up just in time to see a blue haired demi-saiyan barreling down on him. He took a step back as she landed on him wrapping her arms around his neck and laughing happily. 

Many of the would-be troops looked on with envy and awe, a 'Golden Warrior' stood in their mists. Goten smiled and wondered what they would think if they only knew he too was a 'Golden Warrior'.

"I'm so happy you decided to join Goten!" spoke Bra stepping back to look at him. "The other's will be so happy too!"

Goten laughed feeling embarrassed about all the curious eyes fixed on the two of them. "Others? You mean some of the gang has joined already?"

"Yup," chirped Bra. "Base-kun, my brother, Pan, and Marron are already signed up and registered. They sent me out here to get you when we felt your ki nearby."

"So does that mean you've come to rescue me from this line?" he asked hopeful. 

Bra grinned at him and grabbed his hand to snap up into the air; Goten instinctually used his ki to hover above the shocked crowd's heads as he was hauled up after her.

"I give you freedom," she laughed and Goten laughed with her letting go of her hand. 

"My mother will be happy you're here. We really need all the powerful warriors we can find. Come on let's go, you can sign up inside where it's more comfortable," she said fly over the awed crowd's heads. 

As they flew Goten noticed that Bra seemed to be looking for something, her head tilted around scanning the people below. Goten smacked himself on the forehead, not something, someone! Almuerzo and Uub hadn't been included in the list she'd given him; Goten could easily guess which one Bra was hoping would show up.

I haven't seen Uub in so long thought Goten scanning the crowd as well. He wondered if Uub even knew about the CC army yet, the demi-majin teen live literally in the middle of nowhere. His village was relatively poor; they didn't even have TVs or phones. Goten didn't know how Uub could stand that, it sounded like such a boring life style. He glanced back up at Bra, pondering the two's relationship. Bra was undoubtedly fond of Uub and Uub undoubtedly returned her feelings, the two were pretty much engaged, all they lacked where wedding rings on their fingers. Strange, Bra lived in the very heart of modern technology while her chosen partner lived as people once did hundreds of years ago. I guess it is true, opposites do attract thought Goten too himself. 

They flew over the compounds walls and Goten's eyes widened even more. "Wow-we!" he cried. The place was stuffed with people, lines littered the lawn, waiting at new buildings that had been constructed somewhere between today and the last time he'd been over at Capsule Corps. 

"Yah, quite a turn out don't you think," said Bra glancing back at him.

"I'll say," gawked Goten. "Can you even use all these people or afford them?" asked Goten more to himself then Bra.

Bra laughed. "Of course silly, Capsule Corps is a 2.3 trillion dollar company, we could start our own nation if we wanted to, we're filthy rich." She laughed again at him and reached back to pet him on the head as if he were a cute little puppy following her around. Goten blushed slightly at her treatment of him, Bra had such an old personality, serious and wise one moment, girlie and perky the next. He blamed in on the mix of Bulma and Vegeta's best and worst traits. "As for how many troops we can hire," she looked down and Goten had the odd feeling that she was actually 'counting' all those thousands of people under them. "We anticipated there would be quite a few, I'd say we can handle about five or six times this many, give or take a few thousand."

Goten's mouth dropped. "That many?!"

"Yup, we'll start shipping them out to all different kinds of training facilities in a week. We've established Capsule Corps boot camps all over the globe. The most promising students are going to be kept here where most of the powerful ki wielders are. We'll probably get this many everyday for the first week, but after that I imagine it will taper off quite a bit. Don't worry I'd say only half, at best, will make it through the trials, and far less will actually make it through boot camp and training."

"Only half?" asked Goten looking down at all the structures, wondering just what was going on inside them.

"My dad, designed the program," giggled Bra making Goten pale. 

"I'm surprised you gave them such a high acceptance rank if 'your' dad put this together." Goten briefly wondered if even 'he' would get in if these were tests created by Vegeta.

"Actually my mom put together the first program and exams, but dad and her got into this huge fight over it. My dad hadn't really done anything till the last couple days, I almost think he didn't know what was going on?" she tapped her finger to the side of her face then shrugged her shoulders. Goten sweat dropped, if he were Vegeta he would have liked someone to at least explain to him what was going on. Those Brief women sometimes forgot the simple things when they were working on bigger projects, like explaining to their husbands that they were going to build an army. Goten was betting Vegeta woke up one day and just walked out of his house to see all the new structures and equipment that had magically appeared during the night. "After the fight," continued Bra. "My mom agreed to let him revise the program." She giggled to herself. "He revised it, then she scrapped and revised it, then he scrapped and revised it, they went on and on like that for a whole day almost. Finally they got it worked out, I've gone over it myself. It actually looks pretty solid to me. My dad's got his strength requirements and my mom's got her IQ requirements."

"IQ… requirements," said Goten, not liking the sound of that at all. 

Bra laughed again and turned around to start petting him again. "Don't worry Goten-kun, you're strong enough to pass even if you fail everyone of the IQ questions and tests. You'll probably be put into a fighting unit not stuck planning tactics or anything like that."

"Oh," Goten blushed again. So he wasn't the brightest apple in the butch, but he wasn't stupid! With a growl he shook Bra's hand off. 

Bra only grinned at him and swooped down for a landing on a large balcony branching off from the side of the round Capsule Corps building. Goten lightly touched down beside her. In sharp contrast to the mayhem outside the inside of CC was surprisingly… quiet. 

Base leaned back in a corner, as usual, the lone wolf of their little group. Trunks and Pan were sitting down on a couch, sipping tea and chatting, they stopped once he showed up. And, Marron was looking down at a small stack of papers, pen in hand. She looked up as Goten stepped into the room. 

"I knew you'd show up," smirked Trunks getting up to greet his best friend.

"You didn't expect me to let you have all the glory did you?" smiled Goten clapping hands with the lavender haired demi-saiyan, excitement and mischief danced in their eyes. That sly light always entered the two's eyes when they were together, especially when they knew they'd be challenging each other soon.

"So what are you Trunks? A general? A commander? A lieutenant?" asked Goten.

Trunks drew his hand back and shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't a clue what kind of position I'm going to get. I haven't even taken any of the tests yet."

"What?! You mean you have to take the tests too?" asked Goten in shock.

Trunks sighed. "Yah, I do. Mom knows how smart I am, and dad knows how strong, but I still have to do it. I guess they want to make it legal and fair, or rate their son against everyone else," grumbled Trunks.

Goten laughed and slapped him on the back. "Hey, I'm glad your parents aren't mine. I can only imagine how hard it's got to be to please those two."

"You have no idea."

"So what are you guys all doing here anyway? Why haven't you started your testing yet?"

"We were waiting for you and the others. Marron just got here a few minutes ago and she's still filling out the forms, you've got to do the same, and we're still waiting for Almuerzo," answered Pan.

"Yah, everyone agreed to test us together, if we were scattered amount the other recruits we'd blow them away, plus it's easier to see where we stand with each other this way," spoke Trunks. He frowned softly no doubt wondering if his parents had done that to rank him in comparison to the others. Vegeta probably had, everyone knew the saiyan prince thought his son could kick the tail of any of 'Kakarot's' brats any day. 

"Almuerzo? You know for sure she's coming?" asked Goten

"Well…" said Pan glancing at Marron.

"She'll be here," said Marron not looking to pleased about something as she scribbled down words on the paper in front of her.

Goten gave the others a questioning look, obviously wondering what was wrong with Marron.

"Marron just found out that her mom and dad are here to. They're working for my parents in fact, Krillin will be testing many of the recruits in the fighting and strength tests, while Juuhachigou is helping Bulma judge the intellect tests," said Bra.

Goten winced. Were their parents all here waiting to judge them. Goten wondered, not without some worry, if his mom was going to show up too. He didn't like tests and knowing that his mom would be grading and seeing all his mistakes made the thought all that much more unnerving. 

Poor Marron, poor Trunks. "So did she tell you she was coming or something, Marron? Did she give you a time?"

Marron sighed and dropped her pen to lean back in her seat. "No I didn't talk to her, but her dad said she'd be there."

"Tienshinhan?" blinked Goten. "I haven't seen him in years… where'd you find him?"

"Here," said Marron in a blank tone. 

"Huh?!"

"He's helping with training and recruits too," said Trunks off to his side. "So are Chaotsu and Yamacha."

"Please tell me Master Roshi isn't here," said Goten.

"Thank god he's not!" said Pan.

To the side Bra laughed. "He volunteered to train the girls' division, but my mom turned him down."

"That dirty old goat," muttered Marron going back to her papers, her hand making sharp, quick jerks as it moved. 

Goten tried to hide his grin, but he was sure it still shone on his face. Marron had grown up around the old turtle hermit. Krillin, Juuhachi, and her had all lived with him for many years on the turtle island before Krillin had settled down with a good paying job and moved to Satan city. She'd watched the old man laughed and drool over his hentai magazines, sneak pats at her mother and any other attractive female that came near him, and even make perverse passes at her when she'd reached puberty. Needless to say her opinion of his hobbies weren't very high.

"Is Lunch working here too?" asked Goten.

Trunks shook his head. "No, she didn't want to… well she half did, half didn't."

"Huh?" hummed Goten tilted his head to the side in a curious manner.

"The blond half of her wanted to, she showed up with Tien and showered everyone and thing with machine gun bullets. But, she sneezed…"

"Oh," said Goten. Almuerzo and her mother were both so much alike in certain ways. Their blond personalities were wild and well… scary, while their brunet aspects where sweet and surprisingly gentle. Goten didn't know who was worst: Almuerzo or Lunch. Lunch's mood swings were by far more violent and her personalities differed more. While, Almuezo wasn't as violent as her mom, but she was capable of doing a 'lot' more damaged with her power level. "So… you don't know when Almuerzo will show up?"

"Depends on which mood she's in," spoke Base off to the side. Base didn't seem too pleased about the fact that Almuerzo was going to join; of course, considering their relationship that was understandable. Poor Base, hounded by a girl who was sweet one moment and scary the next must really throw the consent, collective, and always (or at least always trying to be) in control namek off his axis. The young namek always claimed not to understand humans, especially woman, and Almuerzo wasn't exactly the best example to use to try and change his mind set about them. They could stay on one side of the room and he'd stay on the other that was pretty much how Base saw it. 

"Here you go Goten," smiled Bra plopping a stack of papers in front of him.

"What's this?" asked Goten blinking at the small print. 

"The registration forms," said Trunks. "You need to write down your insurance, address, blood type, how many years of school you took, where you went to school, the places you've lived, what languages you speaks, your nationality, the lists goes on and on," said Trunks with a sigh. 

"Gees…" said Goten flipping through the sheets. "I hope I know all this stuff… so it's just all personal questions and information?"

"No it's talks about just what you're getting yourself into, what your obligations will be to this unit if you are passed," said Trunks.

"Basically you're selling us your body and soul," said Bra flashing him an eerie smile before laughing in an almost evil fashion.

Goten paled, Trunks grabbed his already filled out form and start flipping though it no doubt looking to see if his sister was joking or if he'd misses some fine print in there.

"Calm down, it doesn't say anything like that," said Marron to their side. She was working on the last or her pages. "There's certain rules and training programs you'll be require to take before you become an officer, but if you want to you can still drop out any time before you raise to rank; you're not signing your life away. Gees, Trunks don't tell me you just signed all that stuff without reading it first?" she asked giving him a 'are you stupid' look.

Trunks made a nervous laughed and rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish Goten imitation.

Marron rolled her eyes and finished her forms, signing her signature on the bottom line.

Goten looked down at the forms not knowing where to start on them, seconds, passes minutes with him just starting at the first page.

"Your name," said a voice to his side.

"Huh?" said Goten lifting his head and looking at Trunks and Marron.

"Your name silly, you write your name there," grinned Trunks. "With the look you were giving that paper I'd think you expected it to attack you."

Goten blushed and looked down at the paper. "I'm not good at this kind of stuff, my mom usually helps me with it."

Marron gave a small smile and scooted over so she was hip to hip and side to side with him. She calmly began helping him, asking easy questions to figure out the answers to questions he didn't know. Goten was generally grateful for her assistance and the two began chatting and leaning into each other.

To the side…

"Oh man I've soooo got to get them married," said Bra watching the two who were so engaged in what they were doing they didn't even hear her."

Pan snickered and leaned back. "Poor Goten and Marron, they're doomed for sure if you're after them."

"I'm so hurt," said Bra faking a pout. She grinned evilly at Pan. "Of course, I've still got you and Trunks to work on."

"Eep!" squeaked both lavender and raven-haired teen scooting away from the blue haired demi-saiyan. Bra was a good matchmaker, but her methods of getting two people together were odd to say the least.

"Aaannnnnddd!" she said drawing out the word as she turned to look at Base. "I've got Mr. Namek here to tie down." Big grin.

"You stay away from me!" growled Base. "I haven't got a love life and I don't want one."

"Oh I see (wink) sure Base," smiled Bra.

"Why do I get the feeling that just went in one ear and out the other?" grumbled the namek. 

Pan leaned into Trunks and whispered in his ear. "You know I think the reason Bra's obsessed with our love lives is because she isn't getting to act out her own…"

A thoughtful look crossed Trunks' face. "You know you may be right. She doesn't show it, but I think Bra's not nearly as happy as she wants us to think she is."

"Putting those acting skills to good use," muttered Pan. "Maybe we should try meddling in her love life for a chance and see how she likes it."

"Good luck, Bra's a tough nut to crack; if she doesn't want to tell you something she won't."

Pan frowned at the blue haired demi-saiyan's back who happened be poking Marron teasingly as Marron and Goten got to the part of the forms that asked about marriage status. If that weren't bad enough the demi-saiyan girls started humming "Here Comes the Bride". Marron developed a small tic at the corner of her eye. 

In Pan's head an image of a Pan nutcracker materialized trying to munch a blue walnut. Instead of the nut cracking the nutcracker's jaw broke. Pan winced at the weird metaphor and gentle rubbed her jaw. 

Just then a large ki was felt. Everyone's heads turned to look at the door right before an army boot kicked it in.

"Mawhahaahahha!" laughed a tall blond standing in the doorway. Green eyes flashed with an eerie fire, made all that much eerier by the fact that the tall woman had one extra. Waves of golden curls were tossed over strong shoulders. A Red bandana held most of the girl's thick head of hair back out of her fair face, a amused smirk played over lipstick covered lips as her eyes roamed over those gathered in the room. "Let's get this party started," grinned Almuerzo strutting into the room with a combined female, feline sway to her hips. 

"Woo," said Goten taking in the tall human's grub. Skin tight black stretch pants molded like a second skin over well toned legs and hips, while an equally black tight vest cover Almuerzo's ample bosom managing to somehow display more then cover. What really got everyone was the amount of amino and guns the girl was toting, a regular one-man army. Black straps criss-crossed her frame holding a wicket-hunting knife to one thigh, a short pistol to the other. A shotgun was strapped between her shoulder blades, a line of grenades on a belt running from shoulder to side, another line of bullets cross over the other shoulder and down to her side. One hand held a rocket launcher over one shoulder, and an Uzi gripped firmly in the other.

Bulma walked into the room to see what the commotion was all about and stopped to stare along with the other Z teens.

"Oh baby! I am 'so' ready to kick some alien booty," laughed the girl. She spotted Bulma then and managed a solute with the hand holding the uzi. "Mrs. Briefs, ma'am, I hope you don't mind me bring a few of my own toys, ma'am."

"Um… no that's fine with me…" managed Bulma. "So long as you don't use any of that in my house."

"Yes, ma'am," grinned Almuerzo slapping her hand on the rocket launcher, which made Bulma jump nervously, that slap had landed a little too close to the trigger for her liking. 

"Yes… well… hurry up an finish the forms Goten, your parents already give me yours Almuerzo so no worries. Krillin says he's ready to start testing your group whenever you finish the paper work." 

"Okay, I've only got a few papers more to go," said Goten eyeing Almuerzo nervously. 

"Good," said Bulma with a weak smile also eyeing Almuerzo. "Well I'll just be going then, carry on," she waved behind her as she hurried out the room.

"Almuerzo, what is with all the guns girl?" asked Bra stepping closer to the tall three-eyed beauty. 

Almuerzo flashed pearly white teeth. "Aren't they great. They're from my own private collections that I've been saving up since I was ten."

"Ten… you had guns when you were ten?" asked Trunks.

"Oh yah, I've got quite a large store room out back behind the house, just packed wall to wall. Daddy wouldn't let me have any of the really fun ones till I was older, like my mini and elephant rifle." 

"My god… she's like the terminator…." Said Pan in a small voice.

Almuerzo laughed and slapped her hand down on the rocket launcher again. "Isn't this one a beauty? My mom just gave it to me as a going away present." She leaned her cheek on the cold metal and sighed in a blissful manner as if touching it turned her on, which it may very well have. 

"But why?" asked Bra the only one that didn't seem at least slightly nervous about Almuerzo's gun covered form. "I mean you're much stronger then any bullet or missile with your knowledge of ki control. Why would you even bother with weapons?"

"Why?!" asked Almuerzo as if it were obvious. "Sister have you ever held one of these babies in your hand and squeezed the trigger?" She twirled the uzi around her finger then flipped it over and handed it handle first to Bra. "Trust me you won't forget it any time soon."

"Hmm?" hummed Bra looking at the weapon. With a shrug she heft it up and aimed out the open window.

"Bra! You sure that's a good idea?" asked Trunks, crouching as if ready to leap away.

Bra looked over at him, a smirk just like her father's flashed over her face.

"Ahh! Hit the deck!" shouted Goten grabbing Marron and diving over the coach as the blue hair demi-saiyan took aim and pulled the trigger. Of course, Bra had never shoot a gun before and was completely surprised at the force the bullets left the barrel. So surprised and unprepared that before she could get a firmer grip on the gun and brace herself, her arm was jerked back and up. A spray of bullets hit the metal frame of the window and the large clock over the sill and bounced off back into the room.

"Ahhh!" shouted the teens dodging and jumping around the room as bullets ricocheted off various items. They were all too unprepared to even think about raising their ki and throwing up shields. Trunks and Pan found themselves acting out a scene from the movie "Matrix", Goten and Marron used the couch as a shield, while Base…

"Ooww my ass!"

After the rain of death ended everyone turned to look at one green namek holding his rear and cursing. 

"You shoot Base in the ass Bra!" growled Trunks.

Bra's eyes widened and she looked down at the gun in her hand. Laughing nervously Bra hid the gun behind her back and rubbed the back of her head in sheepish Goten imitation.

"Bra if that didn't work for me it sure as hell isn't going to work for you," said Trunks.

Bra stopped her nervous laugh and glanced at the now very pissed namek glaring at her. "Er… well I was just following Almuerzo's example. Yah! Got me some alien booty!" she shouted, then paled and look more then a little uncomfortable as the dark look Base was giving her got darker. "Er… well maybe they'll give you a purple-heart for it?" said Bra meekly.

Base growled and began cracking his knuckles. 

"Oh gees! We'd better get going, don't want to keep Krillin waiting now do we?" She thrust the uzi back into Almuerzo's hands and ran towards the door. She couldn't help but pause at the doorway and smile back at Almuerzo. "Definitely won't forget that any time soon. Why don't you go play nurse for Base?"

Almuerzo's face brightened at that and she turned her head to look at Base, a wide grin plastered there. "Base-kun?"

"No! I'll heal myself!" shouted Base limping as fast as he could out of the room. 

"Base-kun!" she called jogging after him.

"Yah… Bra's definitely got some odd methods of getting people together…" said Trunks more to himself then anyone else.


	12. Chapter 11: One Potato, Two Potato Accid...

****

War of Worlds

Chapter11: One potato, two potato/ Accidents Do Happen- Part 1

Bra lead the DB teens off to a private locker room where stretch suits were waiting. She claimed that all recruits who made it in would be given their own designer wardrobe that she'd had her hand in; she'd already fixed them up since she was sure none of them would fail. Pan was pulling the skintight suit on when Bra, Almuerzo, and Marron came around the corner to wait for her. She noticed right away the difference in each of their outfits.

The material was the same that Bra's father, Vegeta, had brought with him to earth. That incredible tough, stretchy, one size fits all, show every contour of your body spandex like stuff Vegeta was always in. It was so light she almost felt nude and if that weren't bad enough it was tight enough to leave nothing to the imagination. It was hard to believe that the ultra thin material was the strongest clothe on the planet and could even resist damaged from small ki blasts. It was a wise choice for people of her strength to train in, but she just wished it didn't show off her three sizes so well. Of course, she felt a bit more covered after looking at Bra's suit of choice. The bold demi-saiyan female was decked in a sleeveless leotard with a zipper from navel to neck up the front. Bra left the zipper only halfway up, displaying a fair amount of cleavage. 

Pan shook her head; she wouldn't be surprised if some day Bra just walked out of her house with nothing but her underwear on. The girl really showed too much chest and leg to have any modesty. 

She smoothed down her own black suit that covered her from neck to ankles leaving only her shoulders and arms bare. Far more modest even if it was skintight. Marron was dressed similar to her only the bottom of her suit was cut off like a pair of bicycle shorts. She didn't seem to mind that the suit displayed her ample curves and clung like a second skin; of course, Marron had a nicer body to show-off so maybe she doesn't mind as much thought Pan. She glanced down on her bust-line then over to Marron's and back to her own. A small frown appeared on her lips as she crossed her arms over her slight curves. Almuerzo's was a two-piece: sports bra shaped top and stretch pants like bottoms. Almuerzo, while taller then most men, pulled off the bare midriff look well rather well, her curves were sharper then most women managing to fill out her tall frame perfectly. Pan gave a mental sigh feeling usually plain standing next to them, not to mention short and young. 

She made a fist and lifted her chin stubbornly. But, I'm stronger then Marron and Almuerzo! And, if I could get my hands on Bra during a fight I could easily defeat her too, she's faster, but I'm stronger now! That's what's important here, I maybe young, short, and a little underdeveloped, but say it to my face and you'll be sorry! She bowed her head and giggled evilly to herself a light spiky aura licking up her form. Even Bra sweat dropped and took a step back from her.

"Yoshi! Let's go!" called Pan marching determinedly towards the door.

After giving each other wide-eyed looks Bra, Marron, and Almuerzo followed after her.

They entered a large gym where several other groups were taking their physical tests. Krillin was talking to Vegeta in one corner; the human was decked out in a gray with white trim military uniform like a guy version of the one she'd seen Bra in on the ad poster- showing him as one of the instructors. While, the saiyan was clothed like herself in a form fitting black training suit along with his white gloves and boots. Behind them was the guy part of their group: Base, Trunks, and Goten all dressed in black the same cut as her own except Goten's was a square neck and Base's a V. 

In another corner she spotted Tien working a group of sweaty teens into the ground, he had a very unfriendly look to him that sent shivers down Pan's spine. She'd never seen the tricyclops train or fight seriously, he was actually a pretty easy-going nice guy at least he usually was. Pan had the feeling that if she tried to start a causal conversation with him right now he'd tell her to drop and give her fifty or something. 

Almuerzo gave her father a small smile which soften his face for a moment before one student collapsed in a pile of arms and legs drawing his attention back to his work. In an emotionless tone he told the boy to get up to start over again. 

Pan frowned softly looking at the triclop, her eyes widening suddenly as something odd struck her. By all rights Tien should be older then her grandpa, but he looked to be in his early thirties. 

She looked back at Krillin with his gray hair and smile lines around the corners of his eyes and mouth and couldn't help but stare. Her head swung back and forth between the two men in disbelief. She couldn't believe it Krillin was the younger and yet he looked twice as old. 

"No way…" she uttered rubbing her eyes then checking again to see if she'd some how gotten it wrong.

"Hello," called Marron waving her hand in front of Pan's wide eyes. "Are you still in here? What's wrong with you?"

Pan raised up a finger and pointed at the triclop. "Look."

"Huh?" hummed Marron tilting her head to the side a bit and looking at Tien. "Yah, so?"

"Look at him Marron, he's got to be what eighty? Ninety? A hundred?! He sure doesn't look it!"

"Oh," said Marron thoughtfully studying the tall fighter. She shrugged her shoulders. "Well your dad still looks twenty even though he's in his late forties what's the big deal?"

"Big deal?! My dad's got an excuse he's half alien!" she shouted. Pan paled and slapped a hand over he mouth, but alas she was too late. Everyone in the gym was now staring at her with wide eyes.

"Er-I mean- well..." stammered Pan face heating to a burn. Throwing back her head she laughed nervously, mentally calling herself an idiot for shouting out her dad's big secret in the middle of a populated area. 

Lucky for her a tall dark skinned man with a black Mohawk choice that moment to walk into the gym, which caused a very happy blue haired demi-saiyan to go hysterical.

"UUB-KUN!"

Everyone's eyes left her to watch the now winded dark tanned man go sliding across the floor on his back, a laughing blue haired woman on top of him.

"Bu-bra!" he choked once they came to a stop. He managed to sit up a bit before Bra glumped him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and cooing for all she was worth just like the love dove she appeared to be.

"Oh, Uub-kun! It's been soooo long, too long! Why I think it's been years, it has to have been years, it sure feels like it. I've missed you, missed you soooo much! You look great, been training I can see. You're shoulder feel firmer, more muscular and I think your chest is deeper too." She paused for a moment to hug him tighter experimentally, which caused her lush curves to press and mold against his hard body. Uub's eyes widened and a blush started to creep up his face. Bra didn't seem to notice, or choose not to; instead she launched right back into talking a mile a minute. "Oh for sure, you're harder all over!" Uub's face blazed red. "Kami I love men with broad shoulders, you're going to look soooo good in a uniform: so respectful, so brave, and so handsome. Oh, It makes me just want to melt thinking about it!"

"A-hem!" coughed Krillin loudly causing the two to snap their heads up to look at the ex-monk. 

Uub couldn't have turned any redder if he tried; of course, it didn't help that Bra's killer papa was looming over Krillin's shoulder glaring down his nose at them. Bra on the other hand didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her jumping someone in the middle of a gym, especially when it was Uub. She just smiled innocently and said in too meek- specially since she was sitting on Uub's lap at the moment- voice. "Hai, Krillin-san?"

"Well, you two seem to… know each other," said Krillin with as neutral a tone as he could muster at the moment, he was a little flushed in the face himself from Bra's little display. "But, I suggest you both get up so we can begin."

"Hai," coursed the two getting to their feet, though once they were up Bra latched back onto Uub's arm and sighed blissfully. She was aware enough of her surrounds to notice her papa sending killer looks at her guy and that Uub was try to unsuccessfully disappear.

"Papa, you remember Uub-kun, the boy Goku-san trained?" she smiled leaning her head on Uub's shoulder. 

Vegeta turned off his protective father instincts a moment to really study the boy his daughter planned to take for a mate. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized. "Indeed," he spoke finally. No one could tell if Vegeta like what he saw or not. The saiyan prince moved to walk past the couple and paused for a moment next to the demi-majin's side. "We'll see just what you're made of soon enough," he said before walking out of the room.

"Oh! I think he like you!" cooed Bra hugging tighter to him. Uub gave her a look that seemed to say 'you've got to be kidding he'd going to kill me'.

"Well, now that that's over," said Krillin breaking up the silent that had developed. "Let's get started shall we." He looked down at a sheet held on a clipboard. "This says a 100 push ups, but I don't suppose I can use the normal requirements for you people, now can I?" With a sigh and a shrug he ripped the sheet off, crumpled it, and tossed it over his shoulder. "1,000 one handed handstand push-ups."

Goten and Trunks face faulted.

"Isn't that a little extreme Krillin?" asked Trunks from the floor.

"Nani?" asked Krillin a dark gleam in his eye.

Goten and Trunks paled and in unison shouted. "No sir, right away sir." The next instant they were in one-handed handstands counting away. The rest of the room stared with jaws to the floor as they effortlessly preformed something they couldn't even do once.

Pan could hear people whispering awed praises and questions. She picked up a lot of 'Golden warriors', 'he's joking right', and 'that's impossible'. The chatter went on for several moments before the Tien called out in a strict voice for his students to quit gawking and get back to work, which brought the other instructors in the room out of their stupor and back to their assigned jobs. 

"Well, better hurry up and get started," said Marron smoothly bending into a handstand and starting her own count. 

Bra slyly grinned and slap Uub on the rear, making the majin's eyes pop, before she jumped into a summersault and landed in a handstand. Tucking one arm behind her back she began as well. After a moment Uub joined in, as well as Base and Almuerzo, and a line of softly counting bobbing teens formed. Other wanna-be recruits snuck disbelieving looks at their group when their instructors' backs were turned. 

"Well Miss Son?" called a voice snapping Pan out of her own staring stupor.

Pan turned and looked at Krillin as the ex-monk crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

"Er… we really don't have to do 1,000 do we Krillin?" she asked. "I hate those things."

Krillin gave her a look that made her wish for Tien as their instructor and she ran to the end of the line and got into a one handed handstand. Soon she was quietly counting away with the rest of them.

When she finally got to 500 she decided her arm was tired enough and switched to the other one only to nearly fall on her face in shock when Krillin's voice called out right next to her. "And, what do you think you're doing Miss Son?"

"Huh?" she said twisting her head to look up at him.

"Is something wrong with your other arm?" he asked, Pan had never know the short ex-monk to look so scary. 

"It's a little tired," squeaked Pan.

"A little? Perhaps you're not qualified for this after all?" he said widening his stance and glaring down at her. "Do you want to quit now and stop wasting my time?" 

"No sir," she squeaked.

"Then do it right and for not following instructions correctly you can do an extra 100 more," he barked. "While you're under my eye, you kids aren't going to do so much as blink without my say so, you got it?" 

"Yes, sir," cried Pan switching back to her other arm and pushing away with more energy and speed then she'd been using before. 

Off to her side, when Krillin's back was turned, Trunks gave Goten a sly smirk and quickly tagged Goten on the thigh with his foot nearly causing raven-haired demi-saiyan to fall on his face. When Goten recovered and glanced back at Trunks the lavender haired teen was softly whistling and failing utterly to look innocent. 

Goten growled softly at him and swatted back with his own foot tagging Trunks hard on the thigh and nearly causing him to crash into Bra who was next in line to him.

Krillin turned around and glared in their direction, but both demi-saiyans were dutifully counting away and looking everywhere but each other. Once Krillin turned his back again however…

Pow!

Thump!

Crack!

Slap!

Krillin turned back again thinking he heard something, both demi-saiyan boys were still counting, but now Trunks had a bruise forming on his shoulder and Goten had a red hand print on his cheek. The ex-monk blinked his eyes in confusion wondering when that had happened. Shrugging he turned back around and glanced at the large clock hanging on the wall over the doorway.

"Trunksss…."hissed Goten low under his breath before rocking over to the side and allowing his full body weight to collide with Trunks.

Trunks' eyes widened as he was pushed over by the unexpected move, he tried to regain his balance and lean back towards Goten, but the damage was done. Trunks bumped into the Bra who lost her balance and thumped into Uub who crashed into Marron who tilted over into Almuerzo who flopped into Base. Base stubbornly supported the combined weight of the leaning teens for five whole seconds before his face turned purple with strain and he rocketed over into Pan who let out a cry and toppled right over.

"Huh?" uttered Krillin turning around. He saw three demi-saiyans, two humans, and one namek all with their eyes glued on the floor below them working their arm like it was the only important thing in the world, while one quarter saiyan girl slowly pulled herself out of a tangled heap and rubbed her head.

"Etai," whined Pan, wincing since she'd landed on her head with the fall.

"Miss Son Pan!"

Pan turned with wide eyes, all the blood drained out her of her face as Krillin towered over her with a cold look on his face.

***********

"I'm going to get you Trunks, Goten…." Grumbled Pan. He was seated on an over turned metal pail peeling mounds of potatoes of all things! Her punishment for goofing off. 

She wickedly started imagining she was using that dull knife in her hands to skin the two and not a pile of dirty potatoes. 

"Revenge…." He muttered to the potatoes.

***********

When Pan caught up to her group, they were starting an obstacle course. The course was covered in barbwire, mud, tires, ropes, and other hazards. She watched as the group before theirs ran through it tripping, falling, rolling, and getting tangled in things. When someone stepped in the wrong place the laser tag plats that were strapped to them would flash and count up how many times they were shot, blown up, or killed in various ways. Few made it thought the course without being killed three times let alone once. 

"Piece of cake," smiled Pan crossing her arms as she strapped on her plates with the rest of her group. She glanced at Trunks and Goten and made a mental note to push them into a mine.

Krillin stepped up and ran an eye over their group shaking his head as if he didn't like what he saw. He cleared his throat and called out.

"All other recruits grab a laser rifle and line up!"

"Huh?!" uttered the Z teens.

"Wait a minute Krillin-san," dared Bra. "What's going on?"

"I have to make this more challenging for you kids, so I'm going to have the other recruits shoot at you while you run the course."

"No way," groaned Bra, several more groans issued from their group while the other wanna-be recruits grinned and snatched rifles to line up along the course's edges, eager to do a little target practice.

"Something the matter Miss Briefs?" question Krillin narrowing his eyes at Bra who for once reacted by taking a step back and widening her eyes. "You maybe Vegeta-san's daughter, but that doesn't mean you get special treatment."

"You call that special treatment?!" shouted Bra pointing at the widely grinning people all lined up and down the course.

"Oh? If you find the tests too challenging Miss Briefs by all means, please, feel free to quit now," said Krillin in a bored tone.

Bra's mouth dropped open in disbelief, it was several moments before she snapped it up and grumbling marched over to her place in line.

"All right, ready-!"

The Z teens crouched down as if starting a track race, the other recruits lifted their weapons.

"On your mark-!

The Z teens rose up on their hind legs, hands pressed to the ground, the other recruits took aim.

"Get set, Go!"

The other recruits fired wildly, the Z teens were simple gone. May recruits lowered their weapons and looked around in bewilderment. Finally they started to see blurred images briefly appear here and there along the track.

"No way…" uttered one would be recruit in disbelief.

Pan dodged the red lines that criss crossed her vision, her thankfully heightened saiyan eyesight was able to detect the red beams of light that would have been near impossible for a human. She glanced at Marron and Almuerzo as they blurred along the course wondering just how those two managed to dodge the lasers so well. Almuerzo's third eye, for all she knew, might give her some kind of enhanced vision; maybe that was how the tall blonde was effortlessly dodging the beams? Marron was in second after Bra she noted that few red lines crossed her (Marron) path, perhaps no one thought them that far ahead yet, still she had to wonder about the human girl sometimes. As Pan scanned while running the course she spotted her unsuspecting prey up in the front by Bra and Marron. Scooping up a handful of pebbles she waited for just the right moment and threw. Unfortunately her aim was off a bit from having to dodge a last minute laser beam. She watched in horror as the whole thing went horribly wrong.

A large speeding stone clipped the unsuspecting Bra on the ankle and with a screech she slipped off the oiled rope she'd been jogging over and fell head-first into a pit of muck. She popped back up with a look of shock and disbelief on her pretty mud covered face, her moment of pause caused everyone around the course to suddenly spot her and she began to ring like a telephone with the number of hits she was getting. Not only were the recruits scoring tons of hits on her, but many of them had dropped their rifles to roll on the ground laughing.

Bra's blue eyes burned red in rage. "So you think that's funny do you?!" she roared getting up she began to stalk toward the closest group of riflemen a murderous look on her face. 

Some laughed harder as she approached others threw taunts, some dropped their guns and doubled over with tears streaming down their faces; they all stopped laughing when Bra's hair turned gold, her eyes teal.

"Kisama!" cursed Bra looking so hauntingly like her father some wet themselves in fear.

With a roar she tore into them, tossing recruits left and right and shouting 'who's laughing now?!'

The other Z teens stopped to watch, some wincing and twitching went Bra did something particularly nasty to the weak humans. Krillin ran over to try and get the enraged demi-saiyan under control. Pan sank to her knee, cupped her face, and groaned.

"What have I done…?" she asked out loud.

"It was several more minutes before Krillin came back to their group looking ruffled and pulling a mud slicked Bra after him by the arm.

"Bra I'm sorry I wasn't aiming for you-," started Pan trying to apologize.

"It was you?!" hissed Bra venomously. "Why you-!" he started towards Pan with out stretched arms, hands tensed like claws- Bra had some pretty long nails, that she did.

"Miss Briefs!" shouted Krilling yanking her back next to him.

Bra 'eeped' and nervously looked back at the none-too pleased looking ex-monk momentarily forgetting Pan.

***********

After hosing herself off Bra sat on an overturned pail and slashed slices off a potatoes that'd been much bigger before she'd been assigned to take her rage out on it and its brethren.

"I'm going to get her!" she shouted to the dark empty room she sat in.

***********

When Bra finished her spud peeling she found her group waiting for her at a large field. Several barrels, trees, fences, and other natural land features dotted the grounds. Bra narrowed her eyes as she noted small splashes of neon colored paint speckled all over the field.

"I'm soooo going to win," smiled Almuerzo happily petting some odd shaped rifle she held.

"Huh?" wondered Bra out loud as Trunks spotted her and tossed her one of the odd things. "What's this? What are we doing now?"

Goten popped up next to her with a grin and green camo streaks painted over his cheekbones. "Paint ball." 

Bra blinked her eyes at the gun and turned to Pan and Marron. "Do you guys know how to use these things?"

Both girls shrugged. "None of use do except Almuerzo really," said Marron. 

Bra pointed over her shoulder at Goten who seemed excited by their next test. "He seems to know what he's doing."

"He's a guy, they all like shooting things even if they can't hit the broad side of a barn," said Pan with a shrug. As if to prove Pan's point Goten somehow managed to shoot himself in the forehead. The group of girls sweat drop.

"Well, I certainly feel safer doing this test then the last, that's for sure. The only real threat's Almuerzo, the rest of us are more likely to kill ourselves," said Bra with a shrug. 

"I don't see why we're doing this," stated Pan. "I mean even if we used real guns all it would do is leave welts on us at the most, we're too strong to be killed with such things."

"Human guns maybe, but who knows just what kind of ammo we'll be up against when facing the enemy, best to be prepared," said Marron.

To their side Trunks fumbled and dropped his rifle when Goten slapped him hard on the back. The gun fired-

"Ow! My eye!"

The girls sweat dropped again as the lavender-haired demi-saiyan titling his head back palm press to his right eye where yellow paint oozed down.

"Marron…. If the enemy does have weapons like that… All they have to do is leave them in the open somewhere for us to find and we'll do them the favor of killing each other in our stupidity," said Bra her eyebrow twitching as she watched her brother.

The other two girls numbly nodded their heads.

Trunks and Goten weren't the only one's with confused looks on their faces. Base and Uub were turning the guns over in their hands as if wondering which end the paint balls came out of. 

"I'm not good at fighting like a human," muttered Base under his breath unscrewing the air tank in curiosity. The tank hissed loudly making the namek's eyes pop in surprise.

"Base you're letting all the air out of the tank!" called Almuerzo hurrying over she snatched the gun and tank and swiftly screwed them back together. With a sigh she handed it back to the bewildered namek. "One of the main problems in paint ball is running out of air and balls, I usually carry extras for when I run low." She smiled, lifting a hand to lightly run her fingertips over the namek's cheek as she circled around behind him.

"Hey, now! Wait a minute!" protested Base as she slid her arms under his and gripped his hands. 

"You're holding it wrong," she said softly readjusting his grip. "Like this, gentle, it won't bit if you're nice to it." Base's eyes grew wider still as she pressed up behind him, her lips right next to his pointy ear. Sliding her hands over his she pushed his arms up and closed one eye, taking aim at one of the practice targets set up across from them. 

"Woman-!"

"Shh…" she purred letting go with one hand to tilt his face back toward the target. "Keep your eye on the goal, get it in your sites, then brace yourself, and gently squeeze," she squeezed his hands as she said this. The gun discharged and a red paint splatter hit the target in the dead center. Almuerzo tugged on Base's arms making him point the gun up and leaned over his shoulder to blow softly across the barrel.

"Well done," she purred letting go of him.

Base blinked his eyes stupidly at her retreating form as she strolled away with an extra swing in her hips.

"DAMN IT!!! I am not blushing, I am not!" shouted the namek griping his head, but despite his words his cheeks had turned an interesting shade of purple.

"Maybe she'll teach him to whistle next," grinned Bra, Base could still be hear raving in the background.

"What?" questioned Pan.

"You know, you know how to whistle don't you? You just put your lips together and blow," said Bra sensually while demonstrating.

Pan slapped her hand over her eyes and couldn't help the blush that flashed on her cheeks. "My mistake for asking."

Bra giggled at her reaction, then her face suddenly brightened. Grabbing up her paint ball gun she ran towards Uub. "Uub-kun teach me to shoot!" she shouted, stubbornly ignored Uub's weak protests that he himself didn't know how as she pressed her back to his front and made him wrap his arms around her.

Marron shook her head and smiled to herself at Bra's attempt at a romantic repeat of Almuerzo's. She glanced over at Base who was crouched down still holding his head between his hands and muttering in a panicked voice that there was something wrong with him.

After a few more minutes of everyone taking practice shots at the targets, plus some more accidental self shootings, Krillin came back to tell them the field had been cleared from its last team. 

"Okay listen up you bums! I'm only going to say this once. The object of his game is simple: the last one standing wins. A hit on any, and I do mean any part of your body means you have been killed, you will leave the field as soon as you are shot, is this understood?!" barked Krillin.

"Yes, sir!" called out the Z teens.

"You aren't going to set any special rules for us?" asked Base. He hesitated as Krillin gave him a cold hard glare and added a 'sir'.

"No, this is one area your advanced skills won't do you much good. You'll have ten minutes to find a starting place when the bell sounds you head out and hunt down your own team mates. It's as simple as that. Now get moving!"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," muttered Base as he headed out with the rest of the Z teens. He found himself a nice shady place and scanned around with his sixth sense for ki reading. Goten and Trunk's ki signatures shown brightly, the two obviously hadn't thought to hide them. Pan's and Marron's were calmer but still slightly detachable, Bra, Uub, and Almuerzo's were completely masked, which unnerved him slightly. Bra was always an unpredictable factor, he didn't knew the demi-majin enough to make a guess about him, and he 'really' didn't want Almuerzo sneaking up on him. 

A few minutes later the bell sounded clearly though the grounds and Base tensed looking around to see if anyone was going to pop up around him. Sensing nothing he stepped out of his hiding place and froze as something smacked him in the back the head. Reaching back he felt the spot and then looked at his hand. Green paint…? He turned around to see Almuerzo smiling at him. She gave him a small wave before stalking off.

"Great…" sighed Base. "I didn't even last ten seconds. How did she sneak up on me like that? I didn't sense her at all!" Of course, Almuerzo didn't need to raise her ki to make an attack in this game, but still he should have heard something! With another sigh the namek began walking back to start. "I'm not good at fighting like a human," he muttered under his breath. 

He didn't make it far before he felt another smack his time right between his shoulder blades.

"Hey!" he shouted wheeling around to glare at Goten. "I'm already dead!"

"Oops, well now you're dead again," smiled Goten sheepishly. He let out a yelp and jumped behind a tree. A shower of color balls rained down from their left, three more hit Base who had no need to hide.

"I'm dead already!" shouted the namek a vein on his forehead was starting to show itself.

Trunks grinned from his perch in a tree. "Well if you're dead stop hanging around and head toward base, Base. Krillin will bite your head off if you don't get going." He took aim again at Goten and jumped out of the tree.

"That's what I was doing!" protested the namek, but Trunks was already gone running after a running Goten yelling 'come back here'. Five seconds later they ran back the other way, Goten on Trunks' heels this time yelling the same thing.

Base sighed yet again and began walking.

***********

Bra was hidden in a thick patch of bushes, waiting patiently for someone to walk into her line of vision. She spotted Marron and carefully took aim, hoping she had the blond lined up properly she pulled the trigger. She had Marron lined up just right true, but the gun made a loud puff sound when she fired and Marron used her super speed to easily jump out the way. Bra had to leap out of her hiding place since Marron now knew where she was. Bra noticed right away that there was a 'big' problem with this game. They were too fast! By the time the paint balls make it out the barrel the target had heard and had plenty of time to get out of the way. How the hell were they suppose to hit one another when the guns were so slow?!!

Several more volleys were exchanged as the two girls blurred around the clearing. Finally they stop and Marron voiced their thoughts out loud.

"This is impossible, the bullets move in slow motion compared to us!" said the blond in disgust.

"I know," a thoughtful look crossed Bra's face. She grabbed the plastic paint ball chamber seated on top of the gun and pulled it off. The balls rattled around as she shook a couple out into her hand. Smiling at Marron she rolled one between her finger and thumb then flicked it at Marron. 

The pretty blond had time to only gasp in shock as she was struck in the chest hard enough to send her crashing the ground.

"Owww… Bra that's not fair," said Marron rubbing at her chest and sitting up. 

"Krillin didn't say we had to use the guns, sorry Marron all's far in love and war!" she called before heading off to look for Pan. She needed to play her back for the earlier humiliation. 

The vein was now throbbing on Base's forehead. "I'm already DEAD!!!!" screamed the namek at poor Pan who almost fell over at the force of the namek's roar. Poor Base was now speckled from head to toe in multi colors of paint. Uub who'd also appeared and mistaken Base for a target took a step back from the ferrous namek.

"Well you should go to base then, Base," said Uub, making the namek turn his burning gaze on the demi-majin. "Woa, sorry," cried the dark skinned boy waving his arms to try and fend off the killer look Base was giving him.

"You're mine, demon boy!" shouted Pan jumping over Base's head and sending a burst Uub's way, the demi-majin easily side steps the attack. Unfortunately for Base Bra had show up right when Pan had run at his backside.

"No Pan, he's mine as so are you mine!" shouted the blue haired demi-saiyan as she rapidly flicked off a dozen round paint balls at the quarter saiyan. 

Base found himself twitching in rage, face down in the grass with six stinging welts forming on his backside from Bra's super fast paint bullets. Around him Uub, Bra, and Pan chased around in circles, Bra flicking off more bullets with the other two running around madly trying to dodge.

"Two can play at that!" shouted Pan yanking off her paint ball chamber to pour a few balls into her hand. 

The two girls started their own little private war with poor Uub dodging around in between their flying paint balls. 

"Ah! Yikes! Woa! Eeee!" said the demi-majin bending into some fascinating shapes to escaping being hit. The girls weren't interested in him, but he was unlucky enough to be in-between them.

Among all the chaos none of them saw or sensed the blond sneaking up on them till they all felt the impact of a small round ball hitting their bodies.

The jumping around stopped as they all turned to look at a smiling Almuerzo. "I won!" she smiled holding up a Victory sign. "Trunks and Goten ended up shooting themselves and I got Base, Uub, Pan, and Bra!" She stopped to look at the speckled namek glaring up at her. "Oops, looks like I killed you twice. Why didn't you go back to base, Base?" A cold breeze choose that moment to appear blowing some of Almuerzo's long blond hair across her nose.

"A-A-achooo!" sneezed the girl, her hair flashed black and her expression changed from triumphant to bewilderment. 

"Oh my," said Almuerzo looking at the paint ball gun, she dropped it as if it were a snake. She glanced up at the group gathered before her, her eyes turned too look at Base. "Base-kun what happened to you?" 

Base just couldn't take any more; even a namek with his discipline could only put up with so much. "Almuerzo!!!" 

"Eek!" squeaked the girl turning on her heels and running, one enraged namek on her tail. Of course, Almuerzo's sweet personality couldn't comprehend why a gentleman like Base would be mad at her, so she took this chase to be well… a chase. A chase though a field of wild flower, how romantic! She began to hum the melody she'd heard in some movie when a couple had done the same thing and her springs took on a skipping quality.

Because she'd slowed due to her skipping Base was almost within range of snagging her when a loud angry voice yelled out.

"Base! What do you think you're doing?!"

So surprised was the namek that he tripped and fell flat on his face. Spiting out a mouthful of grass, he looked up into Krillin's displeased feature.

"Base, didn't I tell you to return when you got hit?" asked the ex-monk crossing his arms. "I don't suppose you got all those lovely paint marks just heading back here?"

Base's mouth dropped as he gasped like a fish out of water at the ex-monk. "But- but-" he started to protest.

"No excuses namek!"

Base 'eeped' and paled at the cold look the human gave him.

***********

Base ignored the pail and the dull knife. Instead he sat crossed legged in mid air levitating potatoes up before him. A little trick of the mind and the potato skins just exploded right off the potato.

"I don't see why I'm here doing 'this'!" growled the namek. "Wasn't my fault, stupid human females, stupid Almuerzo. I'm going to get her for this."

He was snapped from his grumbled as the potato that he'd been meaning to peel exploded showering him with raw chunks. With a grunt he mentally swept up its remains and tossed them into the pile of similar potato casualties. The exploded potato pile was a lot bigger the peeled one. 

***********

To be continued… 


	13. Chapter 12: One Potato, Two Potato Accid...

****

War of Worlds

Chapter12: One potato, two potato/ Accidents Do Happen- Part 2

Base was rapidly growing to regret signing up as a recruit. After his pile of potatoes had been finished and put away he'd reported back to the locker rooms to don what appeared to be a pair of tight human underwear, but was in fact a brand of swim suit human's called 'Speedo'. The next test was a water track race and the Skippy clothing was to reduce drag, but Base could fine the swim wear nothing but embarrassing. 

Trunks, Goten, and Uub didn't seem to mind too much, though Uub blushed whenever a female gave him an appraising look while Goten and Trunks seem to like the females ogling them with their eyes. 

Base glanced at the female's swimsuits with a bit of envy. He didn't know much as far as human clothing and such went- not having much interest in the subject- but the girls' suits covered a hell of a lot more then the guys' did. When he'd asked if it were possible to get one of those in his size, the other Z teen guys had given him wide-eyed looks before bursting out into hysterical laughter. Goten had dropped to roll on the hard floor, Trunks would have joined him if he hadn't braced himself with the wall, while Uub had laughed softly and walked over to pat him on the shoulder saying only females wore that type of suit. This had confused Base greatly, he didn't see why it mattered, humans were such strange creatures really. 

So here he was beside a large pool divided up into different lanes waiting for the other team to finish up and for the female members of his group to hurry up and join them. It was strange the girls always took so much longer to get dressed and undressed, he hadn't the foggiest idea why.

His mind began to plot, going over just how he could avenge himself against Almuerzo when the said female walked out with her companions. He raised an eyebrow ridge when the Z guys turned from being the ones ogled to the oglers. 

Uub went to full flush, eyes looking like they were going to pop out of his head before he turned around and stared pointy at the wall behind them, he could hear that crazy blue haired demi-saiyan giggling loudly from where she stood. Trunks was blushing to and looking more then a little uncomfortable as was his raven haired mate, both sneaking quick looks at each other before dropping their gazes to their feet; like they were trying to make it look like they weren't looking. Goten just stared with open mouth at a smiling Marron who crossed her arms behind her back, thrust her chest foreword, hips to the side, and flashed some kind of look that made weird noises leave the wide-eyed teen- some kind of half whimper half whine. 

Base wondered if he'd walk in on some kind of odd human mating ritual. He looked closer at the group of girls wondering what was wrong with his fellow teammates. 

They wore those thin, tight pieces of cloth that covered from crotch to chest, held on by straps at the shoulder; what humans refereed to as a 'one piece' swimsuit. Humans were so weird. I mean his was a one piece to wasn't it and far more reveling then the females' grubs, so why were the guys the ones turning red while the girls giggled? Human were just so weird!

His eyes landed on Almuerzo and their eyes meet, he was taken aback when the brunet blushed and clasped her delicate hands to her burning cheeks, looking at him out of the corner of her eye with a small smile. Base sweat dropped, no, human females were so weird!

Krillin still in his gray uniform appeared a moment later, causing Marron to stop her seductive posing looking more then a little unnerved as her father shot her a look and then the now cowering Goten.

The ex-monk cleared his throat. "Okay listen up. I'm sure most of you understand the concept of this, but I'll go over the details just to be thrall. You will start by the pool's edge and dive in when the bell sounds. The first one to touch the other side wins, your times will be recorded via the electronic timers built into the sides. I'll be up in the viewing box to read the scores since this will probably be really close. No funny business," he said shooting his daughter a glare then the still cowering Goten. "Okay, you may take your spots," said the ex-monk turning to enter the box off to the side.

"Hmm," hummed Base studying the track, he almost flashed Almuerzo a devilish smile as a plan hatched in his head. He figured he could reach around and catch the girl around an ankle or something and delay her a moment or two. The plan was complicated slightly since Marron was stationed between him and the brunet, but he should be able to get around her. 

The teens lined up and crouched waiting for the bell. When the bell sounded they leapt into the air like a line of well-trained dolphins. 

Base smirked to himself as he drove headfirst towards the water. Before he even hit its glassy surface one arms stretched out to smack the opposite side of the pool, ranking him first place in the race, while the other curved around aiming for the three-eyed woman. Unfortunately for Base he'd never swam in a chlorine pool before and when he did enter the water he was a bit shocked. 

Nameks, in a sense, are kind of like snails (namekuji means snail in Japanese and DBZ's creator, Akira, drew his nameks with snails in mind. Note the antennas and different skin textures), salt was something his kind avoided like the plague. A year or so back he'd been painfully introduced to the substance when he'd some how been conned into going to one of the Briefs households teen parties. They'd been severing alcoholic beverages of every kind and finding that he rather liked some of it he'd asked to try something called a Margarita, which was unfortunately served with salt around the edge of the glass. A very painfully learned lesson indeed, but one Base wasn't about to forget. Now what you maybe asking does this have to do with the chlorine in the water, well nothing and everything. Chlorine in itself won't hurt our pointy eared friend, but when our young namek felt the stink of chlorine hitting his eyes his first thought was: SALT WATER!!!!!

"AAaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaAAAaaaaa!!!!!!!"

Marron eyes popped open wide in the water as a gurgling yell was heard. She was even more shocked when something snagged the back of her suit. For several seconds, which to her seemed like an eternity at the time, she was trashed around, then released after a particularly violent jerk that sent her spinning. She came up with a gasp to see Base flailing his limbs madly. Many of the other Z teens were already at the other side of the pool staring back in their direction with wide eyes.

"I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a w-"

"Base!" shouted Marron. "What are you doing?!"

"Huh?" said Base stopping his flailing to stand up in the rib high water. He looked down at himself and his face colored a bright purple with embarrassment as he realized he was perfectly fine.

"Oh Kami- I mean dad- that scared me half to death," he sighed loudly and- muttering under his breath about salt water for some odd reason- hurried over to the other side of the pool. 

"Gees," hissed Marron angrily. She turned to see everyone was still staring at her and raised an eyebrow at them. 

Pan had her hands clasped over Trunks' eyes, Uub was as red as a tomato, while Goten was bobbing in the water like a cork a very dazed look on his face. 

"Um… Marron honey…" said Almuerzo.

"You might want to," said Bra gesturing at her front.

"Huh?" hummed Marron glancing down.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!" screamed the blond splashing down into the water. Her bathing suit top had been ripped off in Base's wild panic. "Base you Hentai!" she shouted.

"I wasn't aiming for you," he said as if it were nothing. "I still don't understand why woman have to cover there and guys don't," he muttered with a confused look on his face.

"It's it obvious!" screamed Marron wrapping her arms around her front.

"So who 'were' you aiming for?" asked Bra.

"Almuerzo," answered Base before thinking it through.

There was a loud sneeze to his side (don't you just hate it when you get water up your nose? *grin* ) and suddenly a blond was pressed up to his side. "Why Base all you had to do was ask," she said with a sly grin.

"Eh?" uttered Base stiffly turning to look at her. "Wha!" shouted the namek as his face was forcefully pillowed against Almuerzo's chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

"What's going on?" asked Trunks titling his head in the direction of Base's muffled protests. 

"No, Trunks don't look!" shouted Pan blushing lightly as she tightened her grip over his eyes.

Uub made a loud choking noise as his face managing a more brilliant shade of red.

"Uub-kun!" crooned Bra popping up next to the blushing Majin. "I've got a much nicer body, see!" she shouted freeing her top from the confines of her suit to flash the demi-majin.

Uub only managed a small 'eep', the red visibly ran down the rest of his body, before he swayed and sank right under the water.

"Oh, damn I'm good," giggled Bra. "Uub-kun," she called, then stopped and looked down at her front. "Better cover up, don't want to kill any more brain cells," she said fixing her top before leaning over to fish him out. 

"Bra!" shouted Marron.

"Huh?" uttered Trunks in confusion.

"It's turning into a nudist colony around here," shouted Pan causing a shocked 'eep' to leave Trunks.

"That's it namek, you're dead!" shouted Marron wadding over to the being smothered namekian. 

"What? Hand's off sister," growled Almeurzo squeezing Base tighter to her front in a protective embrace. Base began to wave his arms in pure panic.

"Back off," snarled Marron. 

Pan winced as a catfight incurred, poor Base stuck smack dab in the middle. Almeurzo was managing to fend Marron, for the most part, off with her long legs, her arms being occupied with one struggling namek. Marron had one hand fisted in Almerzo's hair the other trying to swat the other blond's long legs away. 

"What's going on in here!" shouted a very angry voice. 

Almuerzo gasped in surprise, head snapping over in the direction of the shout; the pause was all Marron needed to dunk the once again flailing namek under the water's surface. 

"MARRON!" shouted the angry voice again.

Marron stiffened and glanced over her shoulder to see her father.

"I can't leave you guys alone for two seconds without some-!" His eyes widened as he spotted Marron and her state of undress. "Marron! What are you doing?!" Krillin's face couldn't have turned redder if he tried, whether it had from embarrassment or anger was hard to tell. "Ah! My own flesh and blood… hosting her own Tip-Top club! My daughter's a sex fiend," he cried burying his face in his hands. "I knew I should have gotten her away from Master Roshi before puberty!" 

"Hey!" screeched Marron an angry vein sticking out on her forehead. She released Base to wrap her arms around her front. "It's not what it looks like!" 

"Base-kun you okay?" cried Almuerzo fishing Base out. She gave him a few shakes and when that failed to revive him she smiled almost evilly and turned to Krillin. "Sir, my I have permission to perform artificial respiration on the subject, he seems to have taken in a little too much water," she smiled wolfishly adding a polite 'sir' at the end.

Krillin stared at what he assumed was a waterlogged namek, but in fact Base was still reeling from being suffocated against some womanly curves too long. "Yes you have my permission, Miss Shinhan."

"Thank you, sir," grinned Almuerzo hauling Base out of the pool.

Krillin gave Marron a disappointed look. "Parading around half naked and sexually harassing a 'namek' of all things," said Krillin shaking his head.

"But-but-but-" sputtered the blond in outrage.

"I can't give you special treatment just because you're my daughter either," said Krillin narrowing his eyes. "I said no 'funny business'. 

Marron paled.

***********

Marron sat mournfully on the pail slicing at the potato in her hand. 

"No fair, I'm the victim here," she complained to the empty, save for a few spuds, room. "Now dad thinks I'm a flasher! This is nuts! How do all these stupid things always happen anyway?! It's like there some crazy person's messing with our lives!

(B sitting at a computer typing laughs insanely to herself.) 

Marron stops peeling for a second to rub her arms and look around. "What was… that?" she asked.

Shaking off the eerie feeling of being watched, she went back to work. "Stupid Base turning into the wicket witch of the west on me like that. What's his problem? Something about salt, what is he a snail or something?" she grumbled to the potato. 

She growled hacking at the potato with a vengeance. "I'm going to grill me some escargot to go with these potatoes. You hear Base?! You're head is mine!!!" 

***********

Base sat back in his black stretch training suit once again, waiting for the other guys to finish getting dressed, most had dazed looks on their faces. He watched as Uub walked around with glazed over eyes putting his shirt on backward and inside out, then he started to put his right shoe on his left foot. Trunks stopped him before he could tie the laces pointing out his mistakes.

"I think I understand now," said the namek.

"Eh?" uttered the three other teens in the locker room with him.

"Why women cover their fronts."

The three titled their head to the sides like curious puppy dogs.

"It's because they-" he paused looking for the right word- "jiggle so much."

Uub made a choking noise and went into another full body flush before keeling over. Goten's eyes glanced up at the ceiling, a stupid dazed look crossed his features as if seeing something extremely pleasant, and Trunks just blushed and laughed weakly the only one of the three who hadn't gotten to see anything in the pool.

"Yup, I'd say your correct Base," stated the lavender haired demi-saiyan.

***********

Marron washed her hands and went to meet her teammates at the next test zone. She glanced at the odd machines lined up together, they looked like round balls seated on top of tall stands designed to let them turn and rotate. She had the strangest feeling she'd been lead into an arcade as she watched the machines' spin and turns, loud squeals of fear or delight coming from the cockpits. She walked over to Pan.

"What are we doing now?" 

"It's an air plane simulator," said Pan with a frown. "I don't know why 'we'

have to know how to use one of those. I mean we can fly!"

"So it 'is' just like an over grown arcade game," muttered Marron to herself.

"Basically," said Bra moving over to their little group. "I think my brother, Goten and Almuerzo have us beat here. I never played video games when I was young and I know Trunks still does. Him and Goten are always sitting in front of a computer or TV saying how they're going to kick each other's ass." She shrugged and shook her head. "Don't see why they need a game to do that, they could just go outside and actually kick each other's ass. Boys are so weird."

"Uub and Base don't play arcade games?" asked Marron.

Bra laughed. "They're worst than I am I'm sure. I at least am familiar with the concept and machinery. Uub's a bit of a bumpkin when it come to technology and Base…" she shook her head. "He's been living up in the clouds 'literally' too long."

Almuerzo had joined them as Bra spoke. She grinned and glanced at the namek. "I don't know, Base learns fast. I bet he does better then most of us once he's gotten use to it."

"We'll just have to wait and see," said Pan.

Marron glanced at one of the machines as it powered down and let its pilot out. 

"Damn it! I think my joystick was busted. I swear it won't turn when I wanted it to," grumbled the recruit as he joined his buddies. 

"Yah right, you just suck," laughed one of his friends, the others joined in to the young recruit's loud protests.

"Hmm…" hummed Marron looking back at the open cockpit. A light bulb flashed on over her head. "Oh I know I shouldn't…" she said eye balling the machine. "I shouldn't, but I'm going to." With a nod she excused herself from the group of girls and strolled towards the now empty machine. She stepped in and looked down at the controls, snorting and shaking her head at how much they looked like an arcade control pad. She wasn't as ignorant as Bra or Pan when it came to video games, the arcade had always been one of her favorite places to hang out at the mall growing up; although, she'd preferred the claw machine to the fighting and racing games. Still she knew enough, like if one game was used too much and the players were too aggressive and hard on the controls the joysticks always got messed up. Someone was always call the 'good side' of the control pad. 

Marron looked down and studied the pad, after a moment of pause she grabbed the joystick, powered up slightly, and slammed it hard to the left then right. The game made a very bad sparking sound and she jumped back from it in alarm. She didn't see anything wrong with the unit, at least on the outside, so she assumed she'd just screwed up the control as she'd planned. 

"There's," she said dusting off her hands, "That should do it."

"Do what?" asked a curious voice from behind her. 

Marron jumped hitting her head on the top of the small compartment and turned to see Goten's cheerful face sticking in through the doorframe.

"Go-goten," laughed Marron nervously. "You startled me."

"Oh, sorry," smiled Goten. "Whatcha doing?"

"Doing… me? Um… I'm just looking to see how this thing works," she laughed loudly against to hide her nervousness. 

"Oh, well we don't have enough machines for us all to go at once, so Krillin has divided us up into two groups." He smiled brightly, "I'm in the first group I think you're in the second."

"Oh, thanks," laughed Marron weakly. 

"So could you um- move?" he asked with a bigger smile.

"Eh?" said Marron shock flashing across her face.

"Yah, everyone in the first groups already getting comfortable in the cockpit, I'm kind of holding up the line you know," he gestured over his shoulder with a jerk of his head at a frowning Krillin who was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. 

"Um…" said Marron eye widening. "You don't want to use this one."

"Hu? Why not?"

"Well…. I… I think it's broken," she said weakly.

Goten just smiled. "I'm sure it's okay, they are brand new, couldn't have been messed up yet."

"I think they could have," said Marron panic starting to show in her voice.

"Don't worry Marron," said Goten pulling up his sleeve and puffing out his chest. "I'm a Video game junkie, I'll manage even if the stick's a little tweaked."

"What if it's more then a 'little' tweaked?" said Marron desperately.

"What's the hold up Mr. Son?!" called Krillin's voice from outside. "Are you going to just stand there all day long or are we going to start this test?"

Goten paled and glanced back over his shoulder. "Er- Yes sir, right away sir." He turned back to Marron. "Come on, I'll be in trouble if we don't start soon."

"Goten I don't think-" she gasped as the demi-saiyan grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out of the machine. He paled even more and let out a little 'eep' as Krillin flashed him a shocked look before his eyebrows turned down and he scowled at the boy manhandling his daughter.

"Goten-!" called Marron trying to get his attention and warn him.

"Sorry Marron, got to go. You're old man's giving me the evil eye," without another word he turned and disappeared into the cockpit. 

"But-!"

"Marron!"

Marron cringed and looked over at her father. 

"Kindly step back so we can get started, you can have your turn with the rest of your group."

Marron walked back over to the rest of the group, which consisted of Bra, Pan, Uub, and herself. "Maybe nothing will happen?" she hoped out loud as she rejoined them. 

"I thought we should go last so we can watch and maybe figure out what to do before our turn," smiled Bra. "Us four aren't experts so we need all the leverage we can get."

"Yah… leverage," said Marron weakly watching at the machines hoisted their cockpits into the air and pause. It was a very dramatic pause for Marron. Then the machines hummed softly and started to turn and spin, to her relief Goten's didn't look any different from the other three.

She was starting to think she hadn't done any real damage to the machine when the one Goten was in made an offal screeching sound and then a loud clang. The machine snapped to an abrupt halt that gave Marron whiplash just watching it, then it began to rotate the other direction. It started out slow, turning completely in what would be simulated as a barrel roll, and sped up with every roll till it was spinning like a washing machine on high. 

A panicked cry was sounded from inside the spinning machine. 

" I'm getting dizzy! I'm going to died! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Oh no! Uncle Goten!" cried Pan. After a few seconds of watching the spinning machine she grabbed her head in both hands and swayed on her feet. "Man, I'm getting dizzy just trying to watch him."

"WhaaAhhhhAhhhhAhhhhAhhh!" Every time the top of the cockpit turned over Goten's voice was heard loudest and diminished in volume as it rotated over again.

"What now?!" demanded Krillin turning to look at the out of control machine. "Gees!" he shouted with a jump, eyes growing wide. "That's the fastest death roll I've seen yet." He gave his head a shake to clear the dizziness from it. "Is that… safe?" he asked out loud.

They all watch a few minutes more as the machine spun, listening to Goten loudly proclaim he was going to be sick. 

Krillin gave himself another shake and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Son! It's a simulator, hit the eject button or 'something'! 

"I did!!!!"  
"Hit it again!" shouted Krillin.

"Krillin-san?!!!"

"Yes?!!!"

"That eject button… I pushed it into the board! Now what do I do….?!! Help me!!!"

A large sweat drop slid down the side of Krillin's face. "Someone call a mechanic and tell them to hurry," barked Krillin to the nearest person.

"Krillin-san can't you just fly up there and stop it by force or something," asked Bra.

"Do you have any idea how much one of those things cost? I'm not breaking it any more then it is!"

"I can't take this any more!!! I'm getting out of here!!!" screamed Goten's voice from the cockpit. There was a moment of pause then a loud 'thud' was heard, and another, and another as if something larger were suddenly being tossed around inside the small space.

"Do you think he just took his seatbelt off…?" asked Bra in a low voice.

The Z gang winced as Goten's panicked cried started up again and lasted for the whole ten whole minutes more it the mechanic to showed up, by this time Goten was yelling in a panicked voice 'Let me out! Dear Dende, let out!"

"What seems to be the problem?" asked the machanic stepping over to Krillin.

"Isn't it obvious?!!" shouted Krillin pointing to the wildly spinning machine.

The mechanic glanced up at it and rubbed his chin. "Yup, that's quit a problem." He stood there rubbing his chin for several minutes before Pan was the first to lose her patients.

"Well aren't you going to do something?!" barked the quarter saiyan.

"Hmm?" hummed the mechanic looking down at her. "Oh, of course, I will in just a minute, now what was I thinking about?" asked the mechanic out loud.

The whole groups sweat dropped.

"Would you 'please' hurry," groaned Pan as the mechanic pondered a bit more. "If you don't do something 'now' I'll take matters into my own hands.

The mechanic looked back at her with a start and as if he'd forgotten she was there. Pan let out a disgusted sound and was about to jump into the air, but the mechanic waved her off.

"Hold it missy, there's an easier way," he said turning and walking away from their group.

"Where are you going?!" demanded Pan getting ready to pull her hair out in frustration.

The mechanic bent over, grabbed hold of a thick cord, and pulled. The Air plane simulator's plug was yanked right out of it's outlet and the machine slowly stopped under it's own momentum. The mechanic dusted off his hands and stood up.

"That was it…" asked Pan blinking wide eyes at the plug the mechanic held. "That was it?! It took you that long to thing of 'that'?" she screeched. 

"I didn't see you thinking anything up," said Bra to her side make a blank look cross Pan's face before she crossed her arms and pouted. 

"You're the machine expert, why didn't 'you' think of something?!"

Bra gave a careless shrug of her shoulders.

"Later you two, let's go see if Goten's still alive," said Trunks kicking off into the air to fly towards the now silent machine. The hatch door had come to a stop at the bottom of the cockpit so when Trunks gripped and ripped it off it's hinges it 'shouldn't' have been surprising that one limp Son Goten would come tumbling out, but it was.

The battered and bruised raven-haired teen did a belly flop landing face down on the green grass under the machine. 

"Goten?" questioned Almuerzo crouching down besides the not moving demi-saiyan to poke him with a stick.

Using the ladder up the side of the machine's stand the mechanic disappeared inside the cockpit to have a look around, it didn't take long for him to remerge and climb back down. The mechanic pulled out apiece of paper, wrote 'Out of Order' across it, and taped it to the side of the broken machine. Wiping his hands on his overalls he turned to address Krillin once again. 

"Looks like your boy there," he gestured at the downed Goten who the Z girls were trying to revive," did a real number on the control board. Teenagers are always too rough with machinery, they think its all some kind of video game." He shook his head sadly. "The main circuit board was nearly snapped in half, got quite a pair of arms on that lad. If you want my advice keep him away from machines and stick him in some kind of combat unit."

"You mean he broke it?" asked Krillin.

"I'd say so, him or someone else wrenched the hell out of its guts. It'll take at least a week to fix, probably have to replace half the components inside it and even then I don't think it's going to run like new."

"I see," said Krillin nodding his head. "Thanks for clearing that up for me."

"Sure, anything else you need before I go?"

"No, no thank you," said Krillin waving him off. He turned to look at Goten who Pan and Bra had finally helped up into a seated position.

His head was spinning! Goten reached up his hands to clamp his palms over his ears, holding his head still, but unfortunately that didn't stop the rotation of everyone and thing around him. His stomach did a flip-flop and he gulped feeling nauseous.

"Mr. Son!" snapped a very unfriendly voice. 

Blinking his large eyes Goten turned his head in the direction of the voice and wished he hadn't. The world went vertigo and he swayed, would have keeled over if the two girls hadn't been holding him up. After a moment the vertigo stopped and he looked up at three Krillins, all glaring angry at him.

"Ha-Hai?" managed Goten gulping again as his stomach tried to rebel. 

"Have you any idea what you've done?"

"Huh?" uttered Goten in confusion.

"You broke a very expensive piece of equipment. You're just lucky you're not going to have to pay to have it repaired or replaced."

"But-" started Goten.

"I can't believe you people, you're acting like a group of kindergarteners! I can't look away for a minute without one of you doing something."

More then a few of the Z teens looked insulted.

Goten gulped not so much having to do with feeling sick this time.

"But, Dad-" started Marron who'd remained silent and guilty looking since the whole thing had started. She halted in mid sentence as her dad turn his hard glare on her. 

"Don't you Dad me, young lady. While we're here there is no father daughter relationship. This is a serious military operation and if you 'kids' can't shape up then you'd better ship out." 

"Hai!" shouted the Z teen straightening their posture.

"Good," barked Krilling moving to stand over Goten. "Have you got that Mr. Son?"

"Hai…" said Goten in a weak voice all the color draining out of his face. It wasn't all from being intimated by the short ex-monk, which was made quite clear when he heaved and clamped a hand over his mouth.

Krillin sighed. "You'd better go to the nurse's office and get cleaned up. Something for your stomach maybe, but after that you'll serve you're punishment like everyone else."

"Hai," said Goten trying to get to his feet he sway and flopped over flat on his back. Krillin sighed again.

"Marron, you take him."

"Hai, Krillin-san," said Marron softly moving over to support Goten and help him walk.

***********

Goten moaned as the nurse put a cool wet cloth over his eyes. 

"That should do son. You just lay down till you don't feel so dizzy, I'll get you something for your stomach."

"Thanks," mumbled Goten. He was laid out on a narrow bed in an all white capsule med. room. Marron sat in a chair next to him ringing her hands nervously. 

"Goten?" she called softly glancing at him.

"Hmm…" groaned Goten.

"I…I'm sorry."

"Huh?" uttered Goten pulling the cloth off his eyes to look at her. "What for?"

"I… I was the one that broke it… the machine," she said not looking at him.

"You did? I don't see how you could have done that Marron you're jumping to conclusions."

"But, I did!" shouted Marron making Goten wince at the combination of sound, nausea, and pain he was in. "Sorry," she said once again much softer.

"Look Marron the only way you could have done that was if you were trying to," said Goten.

Marron glanced at him and looked guiltily at her clasped hands. 

"I don't believe it…" said Goten mouth dropping open. "You mean you did? You sabotaged me?!"

"No!" said Marron snapping her head up to look at him. "I didn't mean for it to be you, Goten. I-"

"You what?!" growled Goten unhappily.

"I…," Marron trailed off and once again looked down at her hands.

Goten rolled over on the narrow bed, giving Marron his back. "You can go, I can find my way to the potato shed by myself," his voice wasn't overly cold just emotionless, but considering how cheerful Goten usually sounded it wasn't a good sign. 

Marron gave a mute nod of her head and got up to leave him alone, a sad look on her pretty face. Goten was for once angry with her, truly angry, she felt terrible. 

To be continued… 


	14. Chapter 13: One Potato, Two Potato Accid...

****

War of Worlds

Chapter13: One potato, two potato/ Accidents Do Happen- Part 3

Goten sat on the overturned pail slowly running the dull knife over the surface of the potato he held, his thoughts occupied with something besides the task at hand. He was angry and hurt, why had Marron done such a thing, to him no less. He sighed in a miserable fashion, slumping on his perch. He like Marron, liked her a 'lot', it'd always been hard for him to hold a grudge- he just wasn't the type-, but right now he felt he owned her some pay back.

He lifted his head, thoughts racing. Yah, he'd just get even and they could laugh and forget the whole thing.

His lips lifted back into his usual cheerful smile as he began slicing with renewed vigor.

***********

After Goten had finished up his pile of potatoes, he hurried to find the rest of his team, wondering just how he was going to even the score with Marron. He didn't want to hurt her physical, the very thought made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest for some reason. It needed to be something they could laugh at afterward, something she wouldn't take too seriously, but what?

"Goten!"

The raven-haired demi-saiyan had just enough time to turn his head before he was toppled by a smiling, blue haired, she-devil. "Buuuuraaa!" He managed before having the air knocked out of him due to his body impacting with their combined weight.

"Oh, poor Goten!" coed Bra as he tried to draw in breath again. "Are you okay now, we've been worried about you. Your brain wasn't scrambled in there was it?"

With a grunt Goten sat up and pushed her off of him. "No, my brain is perfectly fine," he grumbled dusting himself off and climbing back to his feet. Really sometimes Bra made him feel stupid, he suppose it was just her way of poking fun at him, but really!

"Oh, that good," chirped Bra hugging him around the arm. "Because, we're doing the IQ testing now."

Goten almost toppled over again. "What!" he cried in true panic. "Already…?" He became silent, tapping his fingertips together in a worried manner. "But I- I'm…." Kami he hated tests! He hated studying, he hated sitting in the same place for over 30 minutes! He was best with his hands not his head, logic seem so illogical in a way to him, as he preferred to use his heart before his head.

He instinctually lifted his head and looked for Marron, she'd been his study partner back when he'd been in collage, and always gave him the best tips and advice for these things. His eyes landed on her and as fate would have it she turned her head to meet his gaze. There was an uncomfortable pause, which ended with Marron turning her head to the side with a shameful look on her pretty face.

Goten silently cursed. Marron was feeling too guilty about what happened to give him any last minute advice and he still needed to get even with her before they could go back to the comfortable relationship they'd had before. Damn! He really needed her right now! If only he was as smart as-

That thought cut off as a sly one entered his head. No! That's wrong, that's cheating, that's…. Like what she did…. Goten chewed his lower lip debating. What he was currently thinking of doing went against everything his mom has ever told him about hard work and effort, but…. He glanced at Marron shameful expression again and made up his mind. Anything to get that look off Marron's face.

"Just relax Goten," smiled Bra going behind him to rub his shoulders. "I'm sure the answers are in here somewhere," she said tapping him on the noggin. "You just get thoughts of pretty blue eyes and beach blond hair out of your head for two seconds and you'll do well."

"Huh?!" said Goten twisting to look at her.

Bra giggled in a too cuties, girlie fashion before giving him a smooch on the cheek. "Good luck," she said before spinning around and launching herself at a shocked Uub.

"Uub-kun!!!"

"Wha!"

Goten stood there watching her plaster kisses to the dark skinned boy's face, while telling them they'd bring him good luck for the test. Goten really doubted that would be true since Uub was getting more and more glassy eyed with each kiss. Really Uub was so naïve and clueless when it came to girls. Now, just what had Bra meant about blue eyes and blond hair?

He scratched his chin pondering that for a moment before Juuhachi stepped out of the large building they'd been waiting in front of.

Krillin greeted his wife with a warm smile and a warning. "Keep an eye on these kids, they'll give you nothing but trouble if you don't."

Juuhachi scanned an eye over their group and wordlessly nodded, her eyes had an odd blankness to them that had convinced Goten she'd win any staring contest. Hell even Piccolo couldn't hope to match such an emotionless expression. He shiver feeling even more intimated by the female android then he had her husband, she was strong, intelligent, and beautiful. Oddly enough for a moment Goten pictured her with warm eyes and her hair tied back in pigtails, he gave his head a shake and snuck another look at Marron.

Juuhachi looked over the charts and info Krillin handed over to her and nodded her head as he said his good byes and left. She didn't even look up at them as she began speaking.

"This test will be similar to many you may have taken in school. The questions are in a work booklet, the answer will be written on a bubble sheet- meaning these will be multiple choice questions. You may only use a number two pencil and if you don't know the answer, skip it and come back to it if you have time. These tests will be graded more on correct answers then number you've completed, but we do request you get a certain amount done. You'll have 45 minutes to complete the test, which will then be graded via computer. Please follow me and we can get started."

The Z teen filed in after the blond android, the girls chattering softly with one another, the boys exchanging weak smiles. Bra and Trunks looked confident, and well that they should, both being straight A students and considered geniuses in their fields. Base and Almuerzo seemed calm about the whole thing, no stress showed on their faces. Pan and Uub looked worried, he knew Pan was a good student, but she studied hard before a test and hadn't had any material to memories before hand for this one; he wasn't sure about Uub having not gone to the same school at the demi-majin. He knew he was nervous as hell, but Marron…. He couldn't tell, she still looked guilty about earlier.

Her sorrowful face only firmed him in the belief that if he paid her back she'd feel better, as would he. Yah, Marron was the type to go for the "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" theme. 

They entered a medium size room, with desks lined up in row, reminding him hauntingly of a classroom. He gulped and sat down at a desk to finger his number two pencil nervously.

Once everyone was seated Juuhachigou glanced at her watch and told them they could begin.

Goten flipped his booklet open and got to work. He tried to answer as many problems correctly as possible, but there was a lot of stuff in there he wasn't familiar with and some he couldn't seem to remember for the life of him. The next 45 minutes were stressful ones that left sweat stains under his arms and him looking a little on the ragged side when Juuhachi final called quits.

Goten gulped and picked up his answer sheet. Now here was the really hard part. He'd picked a seat in front for just this purpose. Everyone slipped their answer sheets into separate folder with their names and info on them and began handing them up to the front. When the stack finally got to Goten he 'accidentally' dropped it. Folders went slipping across the floor, some of the answer sheets slipped halfway out. There was a general commotion as the Z teens got out of their seats and began gathering the folders up, Goten of course helped.

Forgive me mom Goten silently prayed. 

He scooped up the folders closest to him, his own, Marron's, and Trunks', the answer sheet all fell out on the floor when he lifted them. Goten panicked, eyes going wide as he tried to figure out who's was who's. He's been planning to switch his with Marron and then when the blond was panicking over her score- which he was sure wouldn't be too high- he'd admit he'd switched them and they could have their laugh and forget the whole thing. He'd gotten such a pathetic score on the air plane simulator because of her, that he was sure Marron wouldn't be mad over a low score on the tests. An eye for an eye…

Now, he stared down at the three sheets before him wondering which one was his, which was Marron, and which was Trunks! He might very well end up slipping his own back into his folder for all he knew, which would ruin his plans.

His eyes ran over the pages trying to find some clue as to who's was who's. Finally he settled on one sheet pretty sure it had to be his, when Juuhachi's voice called his name.

"Mr. Son. Is there a problem?"

Goten 'eeped' and quickly shoved the sheets back into the folders. He stood up with them in hand, "no, nothing wrong ma'ma." Sweat wanted to drench him and make his already tight body suit stick more closely to his skin. Had she seen?

Juuhachi stared as him with those blank blue eyes of her and Goten felt himself sway in a daze of fear under her gaze. To his shear relief she finally nodded her head and held out a hand for the folders.

"Huh? Oh!" he handed them to her and sank back down into his chair with a sigh of relief.

The relief was short lived as guilt set in. Marron would understand, they were even now and that shameful look would disappear probably to be replaced with a flashing angry one. She'd be mad to start with of course, but once she realized why he'd done it she's relent and they'd go back to the best of buds. This whole mess was almost over, he smiled to himself and leaned back in his chair to relax and wait for the tests to be graded. He was in such a good mood that he decided he wouldn't even wait to confront Marron about what he'd done.

I'm getting it over with now, he thought with some cheerfulness. He stood and walked over to where Marron was waiting with the girl part of their group.

"Hey Marron, can I talk to you?"

Marron looked up at him with shameful eyes, then glanced down at her hands. "Um… sure if you want Goten." She stood up and excused herself from the group to join him. Pan, Bra, and Almuerzo exchanged looks before grinning like Chester cats at the pair of them, just what were they thinking anyway?!

He sat down in a desk in the corner and Marron took the one next to him.

"Look Goten about what happened."

"Ah, it's okay," he said patting her on the hand.

"No, it's not," said Marron. "I really need you to get it out of your system, I need to repay you some how."

"Don't worry," said Goten smiling even warmer at her, he'd been right Marron wanted 'an eye for an eye'. "I understand, you can forget about it, we're even now."

"We are?" asked Marron blinking confused eyes at him.

"Yup, we are," said Goten nodding his head. "Don't give it a second thought, okay."

Marron gave him a confused look. "Are you sure, how are we even?" she asked.

Goten waved a hand as her in a carefree manner. "It's all done with, you and me, we've got nothing between us any more. I'll forgive you, if you forgive me."

"Okay," said Marron slowly still looking confused. "Although, I still don't know what I'm forgiving you for."

Goten grinned widely and looped an arm around her shoulders. "You'll see," he said giving her a little squeeze. His heart fluttered in his chest when she gave him a returning smile and leaned ever so slightly into him. 

A few minutes later the computer had finished scanning and correcting the tests and Juuhachi pinned the results on a corkboard then went to recorded them down on their sheets.

All the Z teens moved to go look at their results. 

Goten got up and took Marron hand. "Don't be mad," he said with a grin pulling her over to the board.

"And, why would I be mad?" she asked with a smile before turning to look at the piece of paper.

Goten waited for it, and tensed slightly just in cause she flew off the handle. 

"Oh my god, Goten!" cried Marron spinning and seizing him by the collar.

"I told you not to be mad," said Goten defensively. "We're even now, see," he grimaced expecting her to start shaking him.

She did give him a shake, but it wasn't too hard. "Even?! My god, I can't believe it! You, you of all people!"

"You said you'd forgive me," said Goten desperately.

"Forgive, well I guess I'll have too, but I still can't believe you got a higher score them me, then everyone!"

"Huh?" said Goten now the one with a confused look on his face. "Everyone?"

"Yes you silly, look," she said spinning him around to face the board.

Goten eyes scanned down the sheet and widened.

Goten 97%

Bra 95% 

Marron 91%

Pan 90%

Uub 88%

Almuerzo 84%

Base 78%

Trunks 64%

"Oh… crap," squeaked Goten as his eyes landed on the last number. 

"My god Goten, were you just lucky today or are you really a super genius and you didn't tell me?" She gave him a mock punch and then a hug. "Congratulations."

"Hey Goten," called a familiar voice from behind. A cold sweat broke out on Goten back as he stiffly turned to look at his smiling best friend.

"How did you do?" he asked turning his head to the sheet. 

"Ahhhh!" screamed Goten flailing his arms. "Don't look!" he cried seizing Trunks by his long lavender hair and yanking him away from the board.

"Ooowee! Ooww ow owo ow," cried Trunks as he was dragged painfully away. "Goten, what are you doing?!"

"Don't look, Trunks, don't look!" cried Goten not releasing his grip from Trunks's hair.

"Gee, what's wrong with Goten?" asked Pan going over to look at her score. "Alright, I got 90%, pretty good for not knowing what it was going to be on. Damn, Marron you beat me by one point," he turned her head to glare at the blond who smiled and flashed her the victory sign. 

"Yah, you think that's good, look at the top you'll never believe who's there," said Marron.

"I'm betting Bra or Trunks," said Pan turning back to the sheet.

"Ahhh!" screamed Goten yanking Trunks around in his panic. "Don't look, Pan, please don't look!"

"Oh my god!" cried Pan.

"I know that was my first reaction too," smiled Marron.

"Goten you dog, how'd you do it?"

"It's not what you think," groaned Goten.

"What?! What's going on?" asked Trunks prying at Goten's hands. "Let go already will you Goten?"

Bra strolled up to the board. "Seconds," she grumbled with a half-meant pout. "Well I guess I can live with it. Ohhhh! Uub-kun!" she cried wheeling to glump the shocked teen who'd been walking up behind her to try and check his score. He jumped in her grip, forgetting the sheet with her soft curves squashed against him. "You got an 88%, that's not bad, not bad at all. I knew there was a fine mine behind that shy exterior of yours." She smiled quit happily and leaned her cheek on his arm in a blissful manner, she truly appeared more pleased with his score then her own, which was odd considering she ranked higher.

Almuerzo grinned wolfishly at the couple and eyeballed Base who took a step away from her just to be safe, this only made the grin on her lips widen. She glanced at the sheet and shrugged. "Good enough for me, I never did like tests." He looked at the score below hers and frowned slightly. "Now I know this one's wrong," he said pointing at Base's score. "You're way smarter then that." She turned on him with an accusing looking, arms crossed, as if waiting for an answer. "Did your sheet get switched with someone else's or something?"

To the side Goten 'eeped' rather loudly and yanked a now loudly protesting Trunks around so he could look at her. She however didn't notice his startled expression since she had her eyes locked on the namek before her.

Bases snorted. "Too many human questions," he stated simply.

Almuerzo quirked an eyebrow at him in question and hummed softly to herself in thought. "What's my favorite color?" she asked with a smile.

"Green," said Base a puzzled look on his face. 

"And my favorite ice-cream flavor?"

"Vanilla." The confused look got more confused. 

"And what fragrance do I always wear?"

"Jasmine," stated Base crossing his arms and giving her his own questioning look.

Smiling Almuerzo walked over to him to take his arm, patting it softly. "You know what counts anyway," she said all smiles.

Base turned his questioning look on the others in the room, silently asking what the hell she was getting at.

The girls exchanged knowing grins and giggles, which didn't help Base one little bit.

"Women," he muttered helplessly.

"Hey Trunks what did you get?" asked Marron turning her head back to the sheet.

"I don't know, if Goten would 'LET GO' I'd be able to see," he growled trying to untangle Goten's fingers from his lavender locks. 

"Well, let's see then," said Bra tilting her head from resting it on Uub's arm to peer at the sheet. 

Her blue eyes got startlingly wide.

"What's wrong Bra?" asked Almuerzo looking to see what had shocked the demi-saiyan. Her eyes, all three, widened in a similar fashion.

"What?" asked Pan pushing Bra out of her way to see. "Oh my god…."

"Trunks…?" mumbled Marron numbly looking at the score.

"What?" What?! What?!" raved Trunks and with one finally yank managed to pry Goten's fingers away, though he lost some hair for his efforts.

"Wait, Trunks!" cried Goten. Catching his arm as the teen stomped over to the board, Goten was dragged along. Pushing everyone out of his way Trunks planted himself in front of the sheet and looked up, then slowly scanned his eyes… down.

"Trunks…" said Pan tensely when a good minute had passed with the lavender-haired teen not moving a muscle, in fact, he seemed to have stopped breathing.

Bra reached up and waved a hand in front of his face, then snapped her fingers inches from his nose. He didn't even blink.

"Trunks, say something, do 'something', you're freaking me out," said Pan tugging on his arm.

And he did.

"Trunks!"

He toppled over backward in a dead faint.

With a worried look on her face Pan plopped down next to him and began to wave her hand before his face, creating a small breeze. "Any buddy got some smelling salts?" she asked looking around. To her surprise 18 tossed some her way. She blinked her dark eyes in surprise at the android then with a shrug uncorked the bottle and waved it under his nose.

Trunks awoke with a loud in take of breath, then coughed waving the fumes away from his sensitive nose. "Uh, what happened?" he asked pulling himself up into a seated position.

"Um…" said Pan moving to help him up, her eyes flashed around at the others in desperation. Unfortunately for her they stood up right in front of the score sheet. Trunks froze again.

"Trunks," said Pan stroking his arm in a soothing gesture. He swayed again and she turned from stroking his arm to wrapping her arms around it to keep him from going down again.

"Bro, snap out of it," said Bra slapping him lightly on the face.

Trunks came out of it with a screech, ripping the sheet right off the wall. "How can this be?!! I've never gotten such a low score in-in-in anything!" he cried holding the sheet inches from his face. "Oh God…" he went stiff, the piece of paper slipped through his fingers to land on the floor. "I'm an idiot," he said with a look of horror.

"Um… well I wouldn't got that far," said Pan going back to patting his arm.

"I'm stupid," wailed Trunks. "I knew I shouldn't have stood in front of the microwave waiting for it to finish cooking the popcorn. Oh god, what if there's something wrong with me?! Maybe my cell phone gave me brain cancer?! Or it could be a tumor?!" He clasped his palms on either side of his head with a terrified look on his face.

"It's not a tumor!" cried Goten waving his hands before Trunks in a pathetic attempt to calm him.

"There, there Trunks. It'll be okay," said Pan soothingly. "There's nothing wrong with you Trunks." 

Trunks didn't seem to hear her, only muttered to himself in a crazy way. 

"Graduated top of my class…. IQ drop 50 point in less then a year…I'll have the IQ of a vegetable in no time at this rate…. My mom's going to kill me!… No my dad's going to kill me!"

"Ohhhhh…." Groaned Goten clutching his head. "Could this possibly get any worst?" he moaned.

"Mr. Briefs," said 18 in an emotionless voice. "Would you please calm yourself."

"Calm, calm?!" shrieked Trunks. "You don't understand, my brain if malfunctioning and unlike you I can't go to some repair shop and have it fixed!" 

Suddenly Juuhachigou's dead pale blue orbs turned to blue ice. "I'm not about to take that from you, princling," her voice was ice too.

"Uh… oh…" whispered Goten.

***********

Goten volunteered to scrap what was left of Trunks off the floor when 18 was done with him and help him stagger to the potato shed for the usual punishment. Compared to 18, Krillin was the sweetest little old man to live.

"You okay Trunks," asked Goten slinging his best friends arm over his shoulder.

Trunks raised a black eye to his friend. "No."

Goten sighed. "You really shouldn't have said that to her, she's got feelings too yah know," said Goten dragging his friend away.

"Yah, I know I wasn't think." Trunks' face twisted up into a pathetic look. "Because I'm stupid now."

Goten gave another sigh. They'd reached outside and Trunks was starting to recover, at least he was able to move more under his own strength.

"Trunks you're not stupid, you're probably the smartest of us all." 

"Yah, right," said Trunks, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

"Look, that wasn't your real score," said Goten in frustration.

"It had my name by it," growled Trunks.

"I know that's because… because…." Goten glanced down at his feet and mumbled the rest.

"What was that, I didn't hear you," said Trunks lean his head closer to Goten.

"I said, it was my score, the sheets got mixed up."

Trunks paused and stared wide eyed at Goten.

"It wasn't suppose to be you, you see Marron she sabotaged me and I wanted to get even with her and it-it just happened!"

"You… cheated?" asked Trunks.

"Yes. I mean no! I mean-" he made a frustrated noise. "It wasn't suppose to happen like this Trunks."

Trunks pushed off from him, an angry frown on his lips. "Then just how was it suppose happen Goten, huh? You should at least have picked someone closer to your level, you went from bottom to top and me top to bottom!"

"Trunk I-" said Goten stretching out a hand to him.

"No! Don't- just don't talk to me," growled the lavender-haired teen, before turning on his heels and stomping away to go take his rage out on some potatoes.

"Trunks… I'm sorry," whimpered Goten.

*********** 

"Grrrrrr!!!" snarled Trunks as he stabbed at the potato in his hand, not even bothering to try and peel it. That particular spud was more likely to be turn to mush before it got peeled.

Trunks' eyes flash aqua blue and his hair snapped up gold causing the potato in his grip to burst in a shower of chucks. 

Panting raggedly Trunks straighten and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself with a basic mediation exercise. It worked… kind of, at least he was able to keep from storming out of the shed and beating the snot out of Goten like he wanted to. Using the sheer stubborn will power he'd inherited from his father he forced himself to power down back to normal, flicked a chuck of raw potato of his cheek, and picked up another spud. Slowly and deliberately he ran the blade over the potato and removed a long strip of skin.

Goten and him had been best buds since… well forever, they been thought a lot together and through all their plots and mischief he'd always been the brains of the operation. So it was only natural that Goten would come up with something that stupid and blunder it so badly without him. Switching their tests 'bah!' how juvenile, he could have thought of something much more devious. 

He thought back to Goten's hurt expression when he'd tried to apologize and felt a part of him get dangerously close to forgiving….

"Bahh!" grunted Trunks out loud hacking at the potato in his grip.

Goten had wronged him so it was time to get revenge, but unlike Goten he would use his father's example and do it physically, still it had to have the same impact as Goten's little mishap.

"Oh kami… I hope mom and Dad (he gulped) don't find out about that test score." Tears streamed down his face at the thought. "I can just see it now, the spawn of Kakarot besting the noble blood of Veget-sei's royal family. And worst, mom will be on his side this time; no son of her's could possible get a score so low…"

Trunks hung his head in despair. "I'm doomed…"

He snapped his head up, eyes blazing with an inner fire. "This is all Goten's fault! Well, if he can monkey with my score, I can monkey with his!" He began to laugh, softly at first then with growing volume and hysteria in true evil guy fashion. "Venges will me MINE!!"

Like father… like son… (sweat drop)…..

***********

After Trunks had finished and wasted up he left to find his teammates and intended victim. It took him awhile to find them since the last of their tests were all inside capsule corps' main building and even he didn't know where everything was here. Finally after an exhausting search he found them all waiting patiently outside a door.

"Yo," he greeted plopping down next to Pan. "Whaz up?"

"We're doing a psychic test," grinned Pan. "Think you've got ESP potential?"

"Of course," smirked Trunks leaning back in his chair. "I can read the future don't yah know?"

"Really?" grinned Pan in amusement, leaning foreword in her seat, her cheek on her hand. "Do tell, just what does the future hold, ne?"

"Ah," said Trunks lifting his fingertips to his temple and closing his eyes. He hummed softly in a cheez future teller way, voice taking on just as cheez an accent. "Za feuture, is a daark and scary pulace. I can zee that in the very close feuture vone of us vill know ze meaning of pain."

Pan giggled. "Still mad at Goten then."

Trunks dropped his hands and gave a weak smile. "Am I that easy to read?"

"In some things," smiled Pan. She leaned closer, her face inches from his. "Maybe I can too."

"Huh?" uttered Trunks, eyes dropping to her very kiss-able lips then up to her piercing dark eyes.

Those very kiss-able lips curved into an amused smirk and their owner inched an inch closer. "I can see your future Trunks," she said rolling the words off her tongue with a sexy deep purr. 

Trunks gulp.

"I see… a woman." 

"A woman," gulped Trunks.

"Yes, a woman. A woman who desires you, she will catch you and daze you with her presents till you desire her back with equal passion. Whose hand (she took hold of the sides of his face, lips moving slowly closer to his), whose hand you will-"

"Hey you two!" 

Both raven and lavender haired teen froze in sudden shock, remembering they weren't alone, but in a hall with several close aquanauts of theirs. They pulled away from each other so fast you'd have thought they'd teleported to another direction, face's stained a dark red.

'Oh Kami, oh Kami! I think she was going to ask- I mean maybe she was going to ask- no, No! Who am I kidding, 'she' wouldn't ask 'me' that kind of question. He glanced at Pan's blushing features and felt longing deep in his soul.

I want to fulfill you're desires Pan… I want you to be that girl in my future, but… but. He tore his gaze away, hands fisting into his pants. Why am I such a coward! Why can't I say it?! …What am I so afraid of…? And, 'WHY' are we always interrupted when I try to say it!!! He frowned darkly.

Pan could feel the heat radiating from her face, she felt like going over to a wall and beating her head against it. Stupid! Stupid! STUPID! Wait to go Pan, the fastest way to get a guy to pack up and leave is to suggest or even hint at marriage! Stupid! I don't want to pressure or push him, I want him to asking me, I want him to want to marry me, I want… I want to be with him… forever. I want something stronger, I want everyone to know he's my guy. I have you Trunks, you're my bonded saiyan mate, but… but I don't have you yet. I'm not your human wife! 

Her hand fisted in her pants as she bit her lower lip.

I want too much, I know… but, I just can't help it, she lowered her head shamefully. I should be thinking about earth, about protecting our home and here I am trying to get you to tie the knot with me. We're at war, we've got so much to prepare for, it's selfish of me to want- no demand something like that from you… it's selfish to ask you to….

She lifted her gaze again to look at the object of her desires, her prince charming as he tried to regain control of himself.

I can't help being selfish when it comes to you Trunks…. I would marry you today, right his second, no wedding plans, diamond ring, cake, or guests, if I could. Just you and me… that's all I want.

Almuerzo's eyes, all three, moved back and forth between the couple before her. She had the sudden impression she'd intruded on a private moment between them and feeling like a ditz she laughed in a forced manner to try and ease the sudden awkwardness of the situation.

"So are you two excited about this next test," she started lamely. "I mean, don't you think you'll blow them away?"

Trunks lifted his gaze from the floor to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"What, what do you mean, what do I mean?! You saiyans, aren't you like all mentally wired up here," she said pointing at her head.

Pan lifted her gaze and gave Almuerzo a confused look. "What?"

Almuerzo slapped her forehead in disgust. "Come on, I've heard the old men talk about the (she lifted her fingers and made quotes in the air) 'Good old days'.

Pan and Trunks exchanged confused looks, their moment of embarrassment and doubt forgotten with Almuerzo's puzzling words.

"I don't think we quit follow you there Almuerzo," said Trunks.

"Ohhhh!" growled the blond. "I've heard the stories, you know about how your grandpa, Goku-san, could communicate telepathically with people. So, don't you saiyans all like (she gestured at her head) have some kind of mental radar or something?"

Pan and Trunks exchanged another look.

"No," said Pan shaking her head.

"Not me," said Trunks.

"What, but Krillin-san told me this story about when your dad, Trunks, came to earth to destroy it. He said your grandpa, Pan, told him, through some kind of telepathy, not to kill him. And, I've heard other story where he's done stuff like that. Is it just your grandpa Pan? Or do all saiyans have those kinds of abilities?"

"Hmm," hummed Trunks cupping his chin and giving the question some thought. "Maybe, I'm not sure. I think saiyans have some weak telepathic abilities, that's why we can bond with our mates." He snuck a quick glance at Pan, once again wishing and longing… Snapping his gaze foreword he continued. "I think Goku-san well, I think he kind of bonded to 'everyone' he ever came in contact with. Maybe that's why he could do what you say he did?"

"Bonded to 'everyone'?" said Almuerzo blinking her triple set of eyes in disbelief. "Woo, I bet Chichi-san wasn't too happy with that."

It was Trunks' turn to slap a hand over his eyes. "Not like that. I mean, well there's different kinds of bonds. I think, no I know I've got some kind of mental bond with my dad, and my sister, maybe even my mom. I must have one with Goten, we're just too close for mer friendship." He paused mood dropping with thoughts of Goten, who'd currently stuck a stick in the gears of their friendship; you don't sabotage you're best friend Goten… Giving his head a little shake he continued, "but, Goten and my 'link' is different from the one I share with my family. I think Goku made the same kind of bond I have with Goten with like just about everyone he ever came in contact with."

"Huh?" said both girls tilting their head to the side like puppy dogs.

"Well you see," said Trunks continuing his theory. "Goten's brother Gohan, was 'very' close to his father, we all know that right?"

Both girls nodded their head.

"But Goten, his other son, isn't as close to his father as his older brother is because he wasn't around while Goten grew up. But, when Goku-san did show up again Goten said he felt connected to him right away, as if he'd reached out and I don't know 'touched' him in some deep spiritual way. He said the feeling only got stronger the more he was around his father, like it was strengthened every time they were together. Also, just how do you explain Tien, Yamacha, and my dad? They all wanted to defeat Goku-san, at one point or other. Hell, my dad wanted to kill him and yet he and the others have many times been willing to put their lives on the line for him; now they're all allies, even dad," said Trunk disbelief in his voice at that last. "Perhaps saiyans can construct some kind of mental- I don't know- 'web' with people around them, the closer they are to someone the more powerful the connection. Maybe that's how Goku-san did it, he made this web of mental links with all these people and kept enforcing them until he could literally get into their mind and talk with them. Think about it, Krillin-san and Goku-san were best friend, like Goten and I they're close, maybe close enough to communicate on some higher level. I don't think it's ESP, I think it's something… deeply personal," finished Trunks with a look that begged them to understand.

Pan and Almuerzo blinked large eyes at him.

"Sounds like ESP to me," said Almuerzo causing Trunks to sigh and slump in defeat. 

"I'm just saying I don't think we can do anything to anyone or think outside of our mental circle."

A light seemed to come on in Almuerzo's eyes. "Ah, I see where you're going. You don't think you could say lift a paper weight with your mind, but you might be able to project emotions maybe thoughts to someone you're well acquainted with?"

"Right!" said Trunks sitting up straight and grinning with relief that she understood.

Almuerzo snorted. "Sounds like you saiyans are just untrained."

"Huh?" said Trunk glancing at Pan as if to ask her what Almuerzo meant.

Pan gave a helpless shrug, she's gotten lost early on in the conversation and didn't have a clue what was going on now. 

"I can lift things with my mind, because I'm trained," said Almuerzo pointing a thumb at her chest. "The way you described your abilities it sounds like someone with high psychic potential, but no idea what they're capable of or any form of training."

"Woo, woo," said Pan waving her hands. "You can lift stuff with your mind?"

"Yah," said Almuerzo as if that should have been obvious. She pointed at her third eye. "What did you think this is for?"

"I'm lost," said Pan.

"So am I," said Trunks.

"Oh it's not that hard to understand. Haven't you ever heard the myths? Yah know tricyclops, jaganishs, sanjiyans, three eyed mythical creatures with incredible magical powers?"

"Are you saying you're not human, Almuerzo?" asked Pan eyes wide.

"Well, I'm not sure, guess you really couldn't call my kind human, we're too different in some ways, more like a subspecies or natural mutation of a human. There aren't many of us but according to my dad it is hereditary. My dad's mom was a sanjiyan, he inherited it from her, I've inherited it from him, and my kids will probably inherit it from me. It's nothing bad really, just incredible mental power, a higher ki level, some times we get a kind of spiritual connection to what would be termed 'magic beasts', and we for the most part don't age."

"You don't age?!" said Trunks.

"My dad's over 300 years old," said Almuerzo.

Trunks and Pan's eyes look like they were going to roll out of their heads.

"I had no idea," said Pan weakly.

"Really I never told you before?" Almuerzo said with a wondering look on her face.

Trunks and Pan slowly shook their heads.

Almuerzo stuck out her tongue and knocked herself on the side of the head. "Whoops, must have slipped my mind."

Trunks and Pan face vaulted.

"How could you forget to tell your friends something like that?" asked Pan dragging herself back up into her seat.

"Well I'd figured you'd have figured it out for yourselves by now, I mean dad does look the exact same as he did when he first meet Krillin-san and everyone over 50 years ago. I mean you people do have pictures don't you, haven't you ever wondered?"

Pan frowned remember that she had noticed, she'd noticed earlier today when she'd seen Tien, but she hadn't before today. The truth is she just didn't know Tien that well to be too curious about him.

"Sheesh," said Almuerzo turning to leave. "The next thing you'll tell me is that you didn't know Choasu's a Chinese vampire," she said shaking her head as she walked away.

"Va-vampire?!" squeaked Pan.

Trunks shut his mouth with a click of teeth. "Well that would explain a lot about those two. I won't worry too much, Chinese vampires are suppose to suck chi not blood."

"Yah, sure don't worry," snorted Pan. "Are there any true humans among us?"

"If you're talking about our parents and their group, I think Yamacha and Krillin are human."

"You think, are you 'sure'?" asked Pan.

Trunks gave her a helpless shrug. "You can never be totally sure."

Pan rolled her eyes. "Some help you are, now I'm going to wondering if I can read minds and lift things telepathically because you had to open your mouth."

"Hey, Almuerzo's the one that got into that weird stuff, not me."

"Yah but, you encouraged her. I have to sleep tonight you know; I'm blaming any weird dreams with three eyed creatures, vampires and what-not on you."

Trunks sighed. "I'll worry about tonight when it comes, right now I'm wondering about this psychic test we've got to take."

"Oh don't worry, Bra's already taken it. She said all they do is hold up cards and stuff behind a little wall and ask you what it is. If you're wrong they shock you with electricity."

"Well that seems a little extreme don't you think?"

Pan shrugged. "I guess they've seen one too many movies with shit like that in it. We're just all going to walk out of there with afros."

Trunks laughed softly at the thought as an interesting picture formed in his head. "I don't think I'd look good with an afro. Who's the poor soul in there right now anyway?"

"Huh? Oh, it's Goten," said Pan. Because she was looking away from him she missed the shocked then suddenly very pleased look that crossed Trunk's face.

"Excuse me for a moment Pan I need to go do something."

"Huh? Oh, okay," said Pan in confusion as the lavender haired demi-saiyan got up and left. "Wonder what he's up to?" she muttered to herself.

She turned her head back as a slightly electrically charged Goten walked out of the room.

"How'd you do?" asked Pan. 

Goten blinked wide eyes at her. "Shocking," he said with a weak grin. "I must have gotten everyone wrong, because they shocked me like every time. Good thing the voltage wasn't too high or I'd be one crispy critter." He glanced down the hall on both sides. "Say, where's Trunks? Isn't he back yet?" He gulped looking both scared and guilty.

"Oh he was here a moment ago, but he left to go do something," said Marron waving him over to come sit by her.

"He's probably plotting his revenge as we speak," said Goten.

"Miss, Shinhan," called a voice from the room Goten had just left.

"Well looks like it's my turn," smiled Almuerzo cracking her knuckles.

"Good luck," said Pan.

Almuerzo grinned. "Don't need it, I've got this baby, remember," she said pointing at her third eyes. She waved cheerfully at them before closing the door behind her.

"What did she mean by that?" asked Goten.

Pan sweat dropped. "It's a long story."

***********

Trunks navigate the rat maze that was his home and finally came around to the back of the room he and Pan had been sitting in front of a moment ago. Of course, there was a door on this side to allow the people conducting the tests to enter and exit the testing station without running into any electrically charged recruits who might not agree with their scores.

Trunks slipped silently into the room and knocked the tech there unconscious with a well-placed strike to the back of the head. Pulling the tech out his chair, Trunks settled himself down in front of the controls and had a look.

He couldn't see Goten through the dark glass that separated them, just a very vague outline. The speaker system they were using was hardly high tech, and the voices were filter- once again to protect the test conductors, kind of like a cheep walky-talky set.

Trunks stared down at the speaker system and then the deck of cards in front of him. Man… I thought this test was one of mom's, but she'd never use stuff this cheep if she'd had to fight my dad to get it in the test requirements. His face scrunched up in thought; does that mean my dad thought this was necessary? His mind drifted back to his earlier discussion with Pan and Almuerzo. What if we really do have ESP potential… he reeled at the thought imagining himself talking to animals and lifting things with telepathy. 

"That would be crazy," he muttered.

"I'm ready whenever you are bub," Came a voice from the speaker set causing Trunks to bring his thoughts back to the task at hand.

"Ah, yes, just a moment," said Trunks looking back down at the control set up. His sky blue eyes landed on one dial and grinning like a mad man, he turned it up to full velocity. Let's see how you like this Goten he thought shuffling the desk of cards briefly. Putting the desk back down he pulled the top card.

"Okay what do you see?" he asked looking down at the card himself.

"Three wiggly lines," came the buzzed voice.

Trunks' smug smirk dropped, as did his chin, as he looked at the card in his hand. "Three… wiggly… lines…" he muttered numbly seeing just that on the card he held. No way! That's not possible, not from Goten… unless. Unless we saiyans can really…, but Goten?! His mind reeled with the thoughts. Could Goten really have ESP?! 

Giving his head a shake, he glared at the vague shape though the glass. Oh, no you don't. You're not getting out of this that easily, Goten. His is my revenge!

"Nope, sorry wrong," he said into the speaker pressing the electric shock button.

"Wha-Aaaahhhh!" came a high pitched voice from behind the glass.

When Trunks lifted his finger from the button, he thought he saw smoke drift off the person behind the glass. Dang! How many watts did I just shock him with he wondered looking at the dial. His eyes got very round for a moment as he looked at the five-digit number.

"Alright," smirked Trunks looking back up at his victim. "Next card."

He drew the next card on top and held it up before his eyes.

"A…a square?" said the voice from the other side.

Trunks was once again shocked to see that Goten had gotten the answer correct. I don't believe it! Giving his head another shake he dropped the card to the desk and pressed the shock button.

"AaaaAAahhhhhhaaaaa!

"Sorry once again wrong," said Trunks leaning back in his seat. This is kind of fun he thought watching the shape behind the glass jerk a moment longer, muscles spasming with the high voltage. Ha, that'll teach you to mess with me Goten.

Smiling he drew another card

20 minutes later.

"It's a rat, cat, and dog chasing each other in a circle I swear!" cried the voice from the speaker.

Trunks blinked at the card he held, unable to believe Goten could possibly have guess that correctly. He held the last card from the desk in his hand, having gone through the whole thing. To his sheer amazement Goten had named every picture correctly, even the nude girl seven of clubs playing card, someone had accidentally shuffled into the deck.

Shaking his head he put down the last card and debated whether or not to shock Goten one last time. He felt a lot better now after listening to Goten scream for the last twenty minutes, but maybe he was going to far?

"Did… did I get it correct?" asked a shaky voice from the speaker.

The scale in Trunks head tipped with the question and with a shrug he pressed the shock button again.

"Nope."

"AaaaaaaaaaaAAaaaaaaaaaaaHhhhhhhHhhhhhhhh!"

Boy, Goten did anyone ever tell you, you scream just like a girl? Wondered Trunks lifting his finger off the button.

"We're done now, you may leave," said Trunks into the speaker, setting the dials back to their regular setting and whistling merrily to himself he left the room to go rejoin his friend. He was greatly shocked too see a blackened Almuerzo sitting down between Marron and Pan, her hair sticking straight up in the air.

"It's broken, broken I tell you. My eye is broken, it must be…" she muttered to herself, twitching every now know and then as if she had no control over his muscles any more.

"It's okay Almuerzo, it happens to the best of us, really," said Pan patting her hand.

Trunks felt a large sweat drop slide down the side of his face and turning around so he wasn't looking at the group he clasped his hands on the side of his face and allowed the horror he felt to show. He'd messed up, 'BIG' time!

" I swear they were right, they had to be right, I could felt they were right," said Almuerzo sounding more then a little crazy at the moment. "Maybe the nude playing card had been wrong, but the other's had to be right!" she wailed.

Goten walked down the hall just then and saw the horrified look on Trunk's face. "Trunks?" he said tilting his head to the side and looking oddly at the lavender haired demi-saiyan. "You okay?"

Trunks eyes moved to look at him and then his hands shot out to clasp his friend in a hug. "Goten I forgive you for 'every' horrible thing you've ever done to me!"

"Wow, really?" asked Goten in shock and disbelief. "Even that time I made you a sardine and Tabasco sauce sandwich and told you it was chopped chicken and baroque sauce?"

Trunks grimaced remember that time, but one look at Almuerzo had him nodding his head. "Yah, even that time. In fact I forgive everyone here of anything they ever may of done to me," said Trunks, squeezing Goten tighter. 

"Wow, how great," wheezed Goten prying at Trunk's hands. "Then maybe… maybe I should to," he gasped breathlessly. Once Trunks had let up on crushing him Goten spoke louder and more confidently. "Yah, let's all forgive each other, we're about to get into some heavy military stuff here, we should all be on good terms, ne?" His eyes drifted over too look at Marron.

She smiled sweetly. "Yes, I forgive you, I forgive everyone here for anything they may have done to wrong me in the past." Smiling wider she tilted her head too look at Base. "Let's all be good friends."

Base jerked at the look and unexpected forgiving of wrongs. Feeling award, he nodded his head. "Yah… let's just forget all that stuff," he muttered casting an eye at Almuerzo then over at Bra. "Even if they were other people's doings."

Bra tried to look inocent, but she ended up sighing and going with the flow. "Yah, I'm sorry, lets let by-gones be by-gones, right Pan?" he said snapping her head around to look at the quarter saiyan.

"Eh?! Um- sure, yah no problem. Forgive and forget. Right Goten? Trunks?" she said giving those two the evil eye.

"Right," said both backing away from her.

Uub glanced around the circle of teens with a confused look on his face. "Did I miss something here?" he asked.

Bra grinned and got up only to flop back down on his lap. "Nothing love, you're just the only innocent one among us that's all," he said looping her arms around his neck and giving him a peck on the check.

Uub looked even more confused with Bra's explanation, but with a shrug of his shoulders decided it didn't matter. Shyly he lopped his arms around the Bra's waist, causing the she saiyan to all but purr in delight.

The tension that had been mounting between the individuals of their group eased up as they all started chatting again on friendly terms. They even swooped stories and explained little mishaps to each other, causing bouts of laughter to bounce of the walls as one by one they got their psyic tests done. Almuerzo was particular pleased to know her third eye hadn't failed her, she thought Trunks had been unnaturally cruel in his revenge, but agreed that on Goten 10,000 volts of power might not have been as affected on him as it had been on her. Plus, she'd already agreed to forgive and forget.

Finally Uub, the last of the testers, finished his test and left the little room he'd been in with a small smile. He didn't look at all roughed-up from the experience and admitted he'd probably gotten every other one wrong, but the voltage hadn't hurt him at all.

"Ah I'm so glad that's all done with," said Goten flopping back in his seat. He paused a puzzled look on his face. "So… now what?"

Everyone quieted down with the question. 

"Good question," said Pan. "Just what are we suppose to do now? I mean when are we going to find out where we're going?" She frowned, "I hope they don't separate us."

Any uncomfortable paused filled the air as everyone thought on that. Goten cast worried looks at Marron, strangely uncomfortable with the thought of not being able to see her whenever he wanted. Marron just smiled and slid an arm around his shoulders in a half hug, giving and receiving unspoken support. Almuerzo turned big eyes to Base who sweat dropped and pointy looked away from the girl, which only caused her to lean into him and seizing his arm in a vice like grip. The sweat drop on Base's head got larger and a twitch developed at one eye. Bra sighed in a tired fashion, glancing over her shoulder she studied Uub's face, who's lap she still perched on. The demi majin gave her a small smile and slight squeeze around the waist. She returned the smile and leaned her head on his shoulder. The show of affection seemed some how more grand with the two since Bra tending to let everyone see and know her feelings for Uub with crazy and wild actions, but this moment seemed somehow more private and meaningful; an exchange of true emotion, not a show. Trunks and Pan just turned and looked at each other, eyes speaking volumes to one another. The corner of Trunks' mouth moved up as he reached out to take hold of Pan's hand.

Pan returned the small smile and squeezed his hand. Even when we're apart we're still together, she thought. I still know and feel you with me; I can be content with that… for now.

The touching moment was disrupted by an established couple walking up to their group. Hastily the couples broke apart and straightened their posture as Krillin and Juhachigou stopped in front of them.

Juhachigou ran a cool eye over them and gave a soft snort. "Tomorrow," she started. "You will all meet back here to find out your assigned training grounds. We could tell you what category you'll be going into with your test scores, but Vegeta and Bulma-san have decided to do some personal considering about where you are to be placed. Till then you may do as you please, but once you've been assigned we'll expect you to follow all rule and regulations as well as remaining at your assigned training facility till you are given free time."

Krillin nodded his head. "I suggest any of you that have pressing matters to attend to, do it tonight, because you'll be on a strict schedule after tomorrow. You guys did… well," said Krillin keeping his features smooth, thought the teens got the feeling he truly was pleased. "We'll see you tomorrow, you're dismissed."

They all watched Krillin and juhachi leave, another long pause filled the air as they digested everything.

"One last night of freedom, ne," said Trunks looking around with a sly smile.

Goten grin nearly spread the width of his whole face. "You know what that means right?"

"Time to Parrrty!" shouted the girls flashing wide grins.

"Wine and women, here we come," shouted Goten gleefully. 

"We got the women," said Trunks scooping Pan up into his arms. She playfully slapped him on the shoulder, thought she was laughing the whole time. "We just need the wine."

"Let's go raid the wine cellar and liquor cabinet," said Bra pointing ahead like a general commanding her troops foreword.

"Yah!" shouted the teens heading off to do just that.


End file.
